The meek shall inherit football
The Brave Warriors' performance in their last Group D Chan match has once again earned them respect with the masses.
LIMBA MUPETAMI
WINDHOEK
Wednesday night's gallant performance by the Brave Warriors against Zambia's Chipolopolo in the African Nations Championship (Chan) match at Limbe Omnisport Stadium was a sure sign that Namibian football is alive and well.
The Namibians played to a goalless draw in a match which favoured the Chipolopolo from the onset.
Match wrap - up
Zambia came all out from the start to try and get an early goal, but the Namibians defended in numbers. Emmanuel Chabula and Luka Banda had their shots blocked by the Namibian goalkeeper, Ndisiro Kamaijanda.
In the second half, Elmo Kambindu almost gave Namibia the lead after 81 minutes, but his shot from inside the box was perfectly blocked for a corner.
Zambia's Chilongoshi again came close but his shot after 89 minutes was also blocked. Zambia continued to attack in numbers, but failed to find the net.
The draw was enough to see Zambia qualify to the quarterfinals as runners-up in group D, which is led by Guinea. However, The Namibians are the ones who have much to boast about.
Living up to the name
The Warriors entered the competition without having participated in any friendly competitions or having an active league, as they were robbed of that for about two seasons due to ongoing domestic football squabbles which still need to be put to bed. This was the second time Namibia qualified for the competition. In 2018 they enjoyed much more success as they finished joint top in their group.
Individuality showed
Going into the group, some players were vocal off the record about hoping to secure signings abroad after the tournament and thus played for the names on their back.
That, combined with mistakes, cost them two matches. Namibian Sun asked Woody Jacobs to share his two cents on the team's performance.
“I think a lot of things played a role besides the fact that they played as individuals. But obviously not playing competitive matches played a big role. In the first two matches you could see that they had trained really hard. But all that didn't amount to anything as the mistakes were there.
“Most teams played preparatory matches; a country like Zambia went to Cameroon early. Against Guinea we played an open game against a team which we didn't have any clue of. That was the catalyst for our demise, besides the mistakes, as we didn't create much chances.
“Against Tanzania, it got better when Isaskar Gurirab came on with his runs and found himself in space. On Wednesday, the defensive part was better.
That was lacking in the first two matches,” said Jacobs.
He added that when you play against opponents you don't know, you should keep it close, check them out and see where you can hit them.
“But from the start we wanted to go toe-to-toe with Guinea and that set the tone for the next match.
“A better performance against Tanzania led to a better performance against Zambia.
“It's a culmination of factors but just not one. As much as you want to be seen, you will still play within a team context, for me they didn't have the preparation,” said Jacobs.
Path ahead
The Confederation of African football (Caf) reports that the team will walk away from the Chan participation with roughly N$2.6 million. Local media also reported this yesterday.
The secretary-general of the Namibia Football Association, Franco Cosmos, dismissed this, however, saying that they had not received such information from Caf.
“Before the team departed, the NFA and team entered into an agreement with regard to payment,” he said. He did not elaborate on this agreement.
Caf reported that the package for Chan is about $5.4 million. It starts at $175 000 for just showing up; then rises to $400 000 for making the semis, and eventually $1.25 million for winning the tournament.
Moving forward from the Chan display, Namibia will prepare for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers slated for Cameroon with the hope of securing a place at the 2022 Fifa World Cup to be staged in Qatar.
Namibia has already played and lost 2-0 to Mali in the Afcon qualifiers. They will face Chad on 22 March and then Guinea thereafter on 30 March.
[email protected]
WINDHOEK
Wednesday night's gallant performance by the Brave Warriors against Zambia's Chipolopolo in the African Nations Championship (Chan) match at Limbe Omnisport Stadium was a sure sign that Namibian football is alive and well.
The Namibians played to a goalless draw in a match which favoured the Chipolopolo from the onset.
Match wrap - up
Zambia came all out from the start to try and get an early goal, but the Namibians defended in numbers. Emmanuel Chabula and Luka Banda had their shots blocked by the Namibian goalkeeper, Ndisiro Kamaijanda.
In the second half, Elmo Kambindu almost gave Namibia the lead after 81 minutes, but his shot from inside the box was perfectly blocked for a corner.
Zambia's Chilongoshi again came close but his shot after 89 minutes was also blocked. Zambia continued to attack in numbers, but failed to find the net.
The draw was enough to see Zambia qualify to the quarterfinals as runners-up in group D, which is led by Guinea. However, The Namibians are the ones who have much to boast about.
Living up to the name
The Warriors entered the competition without having participated in any friendly competitions or having an active league, as they were robbed of that for about two seasons due to ongoing domestic football squabbles which still need to be put to bed. This was the second time Namibia qualified for the competition. In 2018 they enjoyed much more success as they finished joint top in their group.
Individuality showed
Going into the group, some players were vocal off the record about hoping to secure signings abroad after the tournament and thus played for the names on their back.
That, combined with mistakes, cost them two matches. Namibian Sun asked Woody Jacobs to share his two cents on the team's performance.
“I think a lot of things played a role besides the fact that they played as individuals. But obviously not playing competitive matches played a big role. In the first two matches you could see that they had trained really hard. But all that didn't amount to anything as the mistakes were there.
“Most teams played preparatory matches; a country like Zambia went to Cameroon early. Against Guinea we played an open game against a team which we didn't have any clue of. That was the catalyst for our demise, besides the mistakes, as we didn't create much chances.
“Against Tanzania, it got better when Isaskar Gurirab came on with his runs and found himself in space. On Wednesday, the defensive part was better.
That was lacking in the first two matches,” said Jacobs.
He added that when you play against opponents you don't know, you should keep it close, check them out and see where you can hit them.
“But from the start we wanted to go toe-to-toe with Guinea and that set the tone for the next match.
“A better performance against Tanzania led to a better performance against Zambia.
“It's a culmination of factors but just not one. As much as you want to be seen, you will still play within a team context, for me they didn't have the preparation,” said Jacobs.
Path ahead
The Confederation of African football (Caf) reports that the team will walk away from the Chan participation with roughly N$2.6 million. Local media also reported this yesterday.
The secretary-general of the Namibia Football Association, Franco Cosmos, dismissed this, however, saying that they had not received such information from Caf.
“Before the team departed, the NFA and team entered into an agreement with regard to payment,” he said. He did not elaborate on this agreement.
Caf reported that the package for Chan is about $5.4 million. It starts at $175 000 for just showing up; then rises to $400 000 for making the semis, and eventually $1.25 million for winning the tournament.
Moving forward from the Chan display, Namibia will prepare for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers slated for Cameroon with the hope of securing a place at the 2022 Fifa World Cup to be staged in Qatar.
Namibia has already played and lost 2-0 to Mali in the Afcon qualifiers. They will face Chad on 22 March and then Guinea thereafter on 30 March.
[email protected]
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