The Brave Warriors not only lost their friendly against India on Wednesday, but also dropped down the Fifa rankings.
The Tom Saintfiet-led charges went down 2-0 to the cricket playing enthusiasts, and are now ranked one place lower than the 115th placing they enjoyed before the trip to South Asia. Despite not having his foreign based players for the match, Saintfiet must concede that to lose to a country who is currently ranked at a 160, is unacceptable.
The disappointing result in India had no bearing on the rankings which were released before the start of the match. The loss to Gambia in an African Nations Cup (Afcon) qualifier the previous week however did, and the team will need to up their game if they are to progress in their group. According to Indian media, Sainfiet felt his team were the better side and that the hosts victory was not a real reflection of the match. Again he lamented his forwards’ inability to convert the goal-scoring opportunities.’They (India) were not brilliant but they converted the chances that came their way,’ Saintfiet is quoted as saying by The Times of India, after the match.’We have some very good natural players, but they can’t score goals. I could have shot the ball myself hundred times into the goal.’’We played much better football, but India scored a lucky goal,’ Saintfiet told The Hindu. Reports claim that the Brave Warriors resorted to robust tactics after finding the going tough against their resolute counterparts.According to the report on The Hindu’s website (www.thehindu.com), victory may have surprised even the die-hard fans of the home team, but then Namibia faltered where it mattered most, even as India made the most of the fewer scoring opportunities. India drew first blood in the 27th minute when Mehrajuddin Wadoo’s ambitious drive went in off a deflection. The Namibians were unhappy with referee Pratap Singh, whom they felt ignored an injury to Alfred Ndyenge in the build-up to the goal.Ten minutes into the second half, Anthony Pereira produced a wonderful set piece as he curled in a free kick from the edge of the penalty box to double the lead for the hosts. sheefeni@namibian.com.na
