Burundi batter weak Warriors

THE Brave Warriors’ recent ascent was unceremoniously halted as they slumped to a 3-1 home defeat against Burundi on Tuesday.

After their 3-1 win in Bujumbura three days earlier – their first Afcon away win in years – Namibia were brought back to earth as they were outmuscled and out-thought by a physical Burundi team at the Sam Nujoma Stadium.

Namibia got off to a great start after excellent interplay between Petrus Shitembi and Peter Shalulile put Deon Hotto clear to score the opening goal after only five minutes.

There were also flashes of brilliance from Willy Stephanus and Benson Shilongo, and Shalulile came close to putting Namibia further ahead in the early stages.

Namibia however lost their early intensity and as the game settled down, the momentum shifted to Burundi. They became more assertive and started to control the midfield, and equalised shortly before halftime through a cracking shot by Pierre Kwisera.

Hendrik Somaeb came on for Benson Shilongo in the second half and soon made an impact with his attacks from the midfield. Petrus Shitembi and Willy Stephanus also created some chances with incisive attacks, but the support was lacking and they went to waste.

In stead it was Burundi who grew stronger, fighting for each ball, and they took the lead on 72 minutes when Mbaeva spilled a cross and Fiston Abdoul stabbed the loose ball into the net.

Eight minutes later another shocker by Mbaeva led to Abdoul’s second goal, as he nipped in to steer a loose ball into an empty net after Mbaeva failed to hold onto a back pass.

Burundi’s coach Ait Abdelmalek said they were determined to win in Windhoek after their home defeat.

“It was a tough match but we were determined to win here. Football is difficult and there are no easy matches. In Burundi, maybe we underestimated Namibia, because they were bottom of the log, but then we knew we would have to work hard in Windhoek,” he said.

Namibia coach Ricardo Mannetti said it was a ‘bad day at the office’ and took sole responsibility for the defeat.

“Everyone will have thousands of things to say, but the most important thing was that it was a bad day at the office. In possession, in defence – today it just didn’t come together,” he said.

“Ricardo Mannetti, the Namibian coach takes full responsibility for this, but take your hands off my players – you can blame me, but today it was just a bad day for us,” he added.

It was certainly an off-day for Mbaeva, who has otherwise given some man of the match performances for his club Golden Arrows this season, but the poor positional play and lack of a finishing touch amongst the forwards also contributed to their downfall.

Stephanus and Shitembi, and later, Somaeb created some great crosses into the box but Namibia’s strikers were nowhere to be seen.

Burundi also outmuscled Namibia as the game wore on, conceding some yellow cards in the process, and it was clear that Namibia lost the physical battle.

The defeat sees Namibia remaining at the bottom of the log in Group K on three points from four matches, while Burundi move into second place on six points.

Group leaders Senegal, have already qualified for Afcon 2017 after winning all four their matches to top the log on 12 points, but Burundi still has a chance to qualify as one of two best-placed group runners-up.

They must still play Senegal at home and third-placed Niger (three points) away.

Namibia’s final matches are at home against Niger on 4 June and away against Senegal on 3 September.

Despite their defeat, the Brave Warriors still have a slight chance of qualifying for Afcon 2017 although it seems highly unlikely.

The two best runners-up out of the 13 groups will go through and at this stage, Benin, on eight points, and Tunisia on seven, are the front runners.

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