Namibia register win in opening group game

By Hesron Kapanga

A late header from Namibia’s Deon Hotto secured the Brave Warriors their first-ever victory at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals on Tuesday.

The 2023 Ivory Coast Afcon is underway in four different cities, with Namibia and their Group E opponents based in the northern town of Korgoho.

On Tuesday evening, in their opening group game of the competition, Namibia shocked one of Africa’s top footballing nations, Tunisia, with a stunning 1-0 victory at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium.

The Brave Warriors, ranked 27th in the continent, were the underdogs going into the match against Tunisia, who are ranked third on the continent. However, the Brave Warriors made history by securing their first-ever win at the Afcon after 90 minutes of football.

Led by captain Peter Shalulile, Namibia dominated the first half, creating five scoring chances compared to Tunisia’s two. Unfortunately, they were unable to convert any of those chances, and the first half ended goalless.

In the second half of the match, Tunisia started off more aggressively in the first 15 minutes. However, Lloyd Kazapua, who was in excellent form, made some fantastic saves to stop the strikes unleashed by the Tunisian attackers.

Coach Collin Benjamin made some changes to the Brave Warriors team later in the match and these changes saw Hotto scoring the winning goal with a header from a brilliant cross by substitute Bethuel Muzeu.

Namibia thought they had scored a second goal, but it was ruled out for offside. The decision was confirmed by VAR.

Despite the disallowed goal, Namibia still managed to win their first match in a continental championship with a 1-0 scoreline.

Speaking to the media after the game, Tunisian coach Jalel Kadri said on paper, his team were the favourites.

“There are no small teams in this competition. Congratulations to Namibia for a well-executed game. Our goal is to now do better in our next game,” he said, adding that the win for Namibia shows that there is good development in African football.

Meanwhile, Benjamin said his team was clinical on the day and deserved to win.

“We are never given a chance and what we do is go on to the field and deliver instead of talking a lot. We hope we will continue to work hard and get good results in the competition,” he said.

Namibia’s upcoming match in the competition is against neighbouring team, South Africa. In their opening match of Group E, South Africa lost 2-0 against Mali. The upcoming match between Namibia and South Africa is scheduled for Sunday, 21 January 2024, at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korgoho.

(NAMPA)
HK/AS
(NAMPA)