Warriors’ dream still alive despite Bafana hammering as they prepare for Mali test

By Adolf Kaure.

Brave Warriors Head Coach, Collin Benjamin said that Namibia’s dream of qualifying for the second round of CAF (Confederation of African Football) TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 is still alive despite Sunday’s 4-0 defeat against South Africa at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korhogo, Ivory Coast.

South Africa took the lead through the boot of Percy Tau after a penalty was awarded in a contentious handball decision against Brave Warriors defender Riaan Hanamub after 12 minutes.

“The penalty award and subsequent goal demoralised his troops,” said Benjamin.

“It is modern soccer, but I think that penalty that gave them the lead was a bit unnecessary. It was not what was supposed to happen and obviously that killed the game. To receive a penalty like that in the twelfth minute killed it.”

“After that, we never really recovered. Our transitions were not that good and we were always a foot or step late into those second balls,” he said.

The rest of South Africa’s score came courtesy of a first half brace from Themba Zwane and a second half goal from Thapelo Maseko.

Benjamin further said his team lost their grip on the match mentally because of the dubious penalty as it allowed their neighbours, Bafana Bafana to punish them over and over again on the counter attack.

He maintained that it is a crucial lesson as his team goes back to the drawing board to get a result in the final Group E battle against Mali.

“Their transitional plays basically also killed us. After that, I think it is also a lesson to learn from and it also came at the right time because we still have a game against Mali. There is a lot still to play for and the dream is still alive,” said Benjamin.

“If you look at the game, after the penalty, we had two or three chances that Peter Shalulile and Absalom Iimbondi could have scored from but those are normal things – it happens. Looking at it from a positive perspective, we did create chances.

“After that penalty there were two of three occasions that Deon Hotto created those chances from the left and it means that the team showed character and is alive.”

“When you have a score line like that it obviously looks bad but if you see the context and how the guys played then I think that one can see that there is hope and that the team is alive.”

“It is not possible that the same guys that played three days ago that did a magnificent job (against Tunisia) and all of a sudden they are bad – definitely not. “I think it is only our job to get them again in the right frame of mind and take on the next assignment,” he said.

Namibia, ranked number 115 on the latest Coca-Cola FIFA World Rankings, currently occupies third place in Group A on three points (with a goal difference of -3 goals).

Mali (ranked number 51), tops Group E on four points. South Africa leapt from Namibia into second place on three points (with a goal difference of 2 goals). Tunisia props up the table with only one point.

The top two teams of each group will progress to the second round of the competition, while the four best teams to finish third in the group stages will also advance.

Namibia will take on Mali on Wednesday in a do-or-die battle as they seek to advance out of the group stages of the competition for the first time.

The teams have faced each other six times in the past, with Namibia managing only one win back in 1995, while Mali have secured four victories against the Brave Warriors with two matches ending in draws.

The action starts at the Laurent Pokou Stadium in San Pedro, Ivory Coast from 19:00 (Namibian time).