In spite of his chargers failing to win the third position, Brave Gladiators head coach Paulus Shipanga said they did well at the just-ended Women’s Cosafa Championship staged in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa.

Namibia, who competed as underdogs, reached the semi-finals, where they fell short to host South Africa, which left them to contest for third place on Sunday against Tanzania, who were eliminated by Zambia in the semis.

Namibia showed capability from the onset but fell short to Tanzania with a 1-2 score. 

Namibia’s goal came off an own goal by Tanzania in the first half of the match.

Speaking to this publication after the match, Shipanga said it is not the result he and the entire team wanted, but he is proud of how the team performed at the tournament. 

“We came here as underdogs, and we tried our best. We played against the best on the continent and the region. We managed to push until the semi-finals and reached the third and fourth place play-offs,” he told New Era Sport.

“We could have done better but it wasn’t our day – and that’s the game of football; we will try again in the future. With good preparation and enough time to prepare, I am sure we will do better.” 

In terms of some of the lessons learned, Shipanga said they now know where they went wrong and where they need to fix.

He added that finishing fourth is something they can not overlook, and promised to do better next year.

“It was a huge learning curve; it taught us so many things – like where we need to fix as a team, so that we catch up to the rest of the continent. Overall, I can say I am proud of what the girls did, and it also helped me, as a coach, with my personal experience,” he added.

The Brave Gladiators’ best finish was in 2006 when they took second place.

- mkambukwe@nepom.na