WINDHOEK – Namibia’s slim hopes of advancing to the final preliminary round of the Orange Confederation of African Football (CAF) AFCON 2015 Morocco finals ended in anguish following a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Congo in the decisive return leg at the Pointe Noire sports complex yesterday.
The Brave Warriors took a slender one-goal cushion into the final leg of their two-legged tie against Congo, courtesy of their 1-0 triumph in the first leg a fortnight ago, a result that left them with a Mount Kilimanjaro to scale going into the anticipated hostile reception in the Congolese capital.
Speaking to New Era Sports after the match, a dejected Warriors coach Ricardo Mannetti admitted that his charges were completely outplayed and out-thought following the enforced removal of inspirational skipper Stigga Ketjiejere, who left the field injured halfway through the opening half.
“In all honesty, Congo was much stronger than us … although we did manage to contain them well in the opening half. However, it was not one-way traffic for the hosts as we also created clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities through both Rudolf Bester and Ballack Somaeb, who both however wasted gilt-edge goal-scoring chances while one on one with the goalkeeper.”
Mannetti was gracious in defeat adding: “Tactically, our boys were found wanting at the back committing costly defensive errors that resulted in the opening goal in the first half. As the match wore on, our defence uncharacteristically dropped their heads and were prone to committing unnecessary errors, which cost us dearly in the long run but I must admit we lost against the better side.”
Brave Warriors starting line-up: Virgil Vries, Denzil Haoseb, Da Costa Angula, Dudes Mwedihanga, Freedom Puriza, Awilo Stephanus, Stigga Ketjijere (capt), Heini Isaacks, Shoes Shitembi, Ballack Somaeb and Rudolf Bester.
Back home, United Stars ended their 2013/2014 MTC Premiership campaign in the most dignified fashion. Dawid Snewe’s unpredictable league rookies shook off their bad travellers’ tag to record a rare away win via a 2-1 victory against an out-of-sorts Ramblers outfit at the latter’s field in Windhoek on Saturday.
By Carlos Kambaekwa