Otniel Hembapu
WINDHOEK – After clashing out of this year’s COSAFA Cup following a disheartening 4-3 defeat on penalties against regional rivals Zambia on Friday, Namibia’s Brave Warriors will now face neighbours South Africa in the competition’s Plate Division.
Competition hosts South Africa yesterday suffered the same fate as Namibia, losing 4-3 on penalties against Madagascar (0-0 at fulltime) to be dumped out of the tournament and subsequently demoted to the losers’ plate section of the tournament.
The Brave Warriors will now face South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in tomorrow’s COSAFA Cup Plate semifinals at 17h00, to decide who books a place in the plate final.
Commenting on Friday’s defeat, Namibian coach Ricardo Mannetti said: “It is very sad to go out this way, especially after all the preparations that went so well. We also prepared very well for the shootout and unfortunately it did not pay off. Sometimes you need luck as well. We move on and plan for plate semifinal against South Africa.”
Mannetti said all is not lost, as they now have to fight for silverware in the Plate Section. “We cannot become a bad team overnight after the team’s achievements over the past three years. We stumbled against Zambia on Saturday and we now go for the Plate. We can still turn things around at Cosafa in that section and I believe the players understand the importance,” said Mannetti, who won the Cup in 2015 and then the Plate in 2016 before losing in the Plate final in 2017.