Maqonda Ndlovu

Brave Gladiators coach Mervin Mbakera says her charges will go all out in their fixture against Lesotho in the last Group C match of the 2023 Council of Southern African Football Associations tournament to make sure they win.

Speaking at a press conference after witnessing the Gladiators lose 2-0 to Zimbabwe on Monday, Mbakera said the never-say-die spirit of his girls will carry them as they seek to qualify for the semifinals of the tournament.

“Last year, we lost our first game but managed to progress to the next stage. Today, even at 2-0 down, the girls were still fighting. We are going to prepare well, go all out and make sure that mathematics favours us,” he said.

Mbakera added that as a technical team, they will make sure the girls grow and become better players while praising them for giving it their all.

He added that the Gladiator’s game plan against Zimbabwe was to keep it compact and use the spaces between the half-centre-backs and the wing-backs, as they knew Zimbabwe would play three at the back.

“We knew they had a sweeper-goalkeeper, which allowed her to make a good save, and they punished us for not taking our chances.”

 “In the second half, we tried exploring the spaces, and they scored a goal similar to the one Botswana scored against us last time out,” he said.

The Gladiators’ fate at the tournament now hangs in balance, following that loss, as they will seek favours from the other Group C match between Zimbabwe and Botswana to go their way.

The Gladiators will need to beat Lesotho by a 3-0 or more scoreline, while hoping that Zimbabwe beats Botswana by a 2-0 or more scoreline for them to advance to the semifinals.

They kicked off the tournament with a one-all draw against neighbouring Botswana. 

Namibia did not do themselves any favours by failing to convert the many chances they created in the first 15 minutes of their clash against the Mighty Warriors.

Viola Vliete and Ivone Kooper forced a double save from the agile Zimbabwe goalkeeper Cynthia Shonga in the 14th minute.

That double save jerked up the Zimbabweans, who responded swiftly with a counterattack that saw Christabel Katano’s inch-perfect pass being lobbed over Melissa Matheus by veteran winger Rudo Neshamba for the opener in the 16th minute.

Matheus was then forced to make a good save towards the end of the half as Vimbai Mharadzi curled a free kick to the near post, leaving the scoreline at 1-0 in favour of Zimbabwe at halftime.

Namibia almost equalised in the opening minutes of the second half, but Tomalina Azania Adams shot just over the bar.

Zimbabwe made sure of maximum points at the hour mark, with Nobukhosi Ncube scoring a beauty from a free kick to make it 2-0.

Zimbabwe tops the group with six points, followed by Botswana, who have four points, while Namibia is currently third on the log with one point above the bottom place and has already eliminated Lesotho, whom they play on Friday.

– jrnmarko@gmail.com