Young Warriors exit Afcon 2019

The Young Warriors of Namibia were eliminated from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers on Sunday.The second leg of their round one qualifier was played at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek and saw Botswana advancing, courtesy of an away goal. In the first leg played in Gaborone three weeks ago, the game ended in a 0-0 draw, while the second leg on Sunday saw Botswana and Namibia drawing 1-1, which resulted in neighbouring country qualifying for the next round of the competition.Botswana will meet Congo in the second round of the qualifiers.Sunday's match was played in front of about 300 supporters. The Young Warriors found the going tough, as their counterparts had more ball possession in the first half and created a number of scoring opportunities, but could not find the back of the net.Namibia was reduced to 10 men in the 37th minute when Johannes Hollombach was tackled by Kitso Mangolo of Botswana.The Namibian player retaliated, which forced the referee to reach for a red card.Despite being a man down, Namibia managed to go into the halftime break with the score locked at 0-0.In the second half, Botswana came out like a house on fire and found the back of the net after a brilliant sprint by Thabang Khuduga, who beat the Namibian midfield and defence to score the opener. With the home team trailing by a single goal, the coach rang some changes to strengthen his midfield, which gave them stability and control over the ball. Namibia managed to find the equaliser in the 77th minute after Hubert Mingeri's long shot from a restart found substitute Bethuel Muzeu, who chipped the oncoming goalkeeper to score.With only 13 minutes left in the match, the Namibian boys gave it their all, but could not find the back of the net again and the match ended 1-1. Speaking to the media after the game, head coach Gerald Güther said his boys did not come to the party on the day.“We didn't start like a house on fire in the first half, because some of our key players who we put our hopes on did not 'switch on', which came back to bite us in the second half,” he said.He added that his squad is still very young and they will now look forward to future competitions.NAMPA

Young Warriors exit Afcon 2019

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-23

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Young Warriors exit Afcon 2019

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-23

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