Cosafa ‘not over yet’ for Gladiators 

Defeat to South Africa does not mean the Brave Gladiators should give up on their ambition of reaching the Cosafa Women’s Championship knock-out stage, says Namibia head coach Woody Jacobs.

Namibia agonisingly went down 1-0 to South Africa five minutes from time in their clash inside the rain soaked Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Tuesday.

The result dented the Gladiators’ chances of advancing from Group A to the semis, especially after Eswatini thrashed débutantes Seychelles 6-0 in the group’s opening match of the tournament.

With only the group winner going through to the last four, Namibia will need to handsomely beat Eswatini and Seychelles in the hope that South Africa pick up no points against the same rivals to be in contention for top spot.

Jacobs remains positive that his side can still make it. However, he acknowledged that the Gladiators were second best against the hosts, who fielded a youthful second-string team, but that their battling display merited at least a share of the spoils.

“I think South Africa really neutralised us, the threat that we could pose, and I think we succumbed to that. Not to take anything away from my girls that I think at the end of the day fought a brave fight, but it was not to be,” Jacobs said during his post-match analysis.

“We hit the post and from there, on a counter-attack, we conceded a goal from that corner kick. But I think on the balance of play, for me, a draw would have sufficed.

“But I also would say that South Africa edged us in many departments. They were winning all the duels and controlled matters better than us. So, congratulations to them in the fact that they could manage that.”

Banyana Banyana coach Maud Khumalo was happy with how her charges navigated the match against the tough Namibians.

The South Africans game plan was to isolate and limit supply to Gladiators’ star attacker Zenatha Coleman, hog possession and try to capitalise on scoring opportunities.

“We knew that Namibia is a strong team, very physical and hard-running. So, we just had to work on our strength in a sense that we keep the ball and also not allow Coleman to get a chance to score, because she was the target player,” said Khumalo.

“We planned our game around her, we blocked the passes to her. That’s why you find her moving from this side to the other side.

“We were very aware of what Namibia is capable of and then we knew it was not going to be an easy game.”

Namibia take on Eswatini, while Banyana will play Seychelles on Friday. Khumalo is keen for her side to build on their winning start to the tournament.

“You know, winning the first game with having such a young team, it gives them motivation, you know, and then playing with such a strong team as well, it gives them motivation that they can do better as well,” said Khumalo.

Meanwhile, the tournament organisers announced that due to water damage caused by recent heavy rains in Nelson Mandela Bay, there has been a change of venues for matches in the coming days. Plans to move to the Gelvandale Stadium from Wednesday have been shelved due to extensive water damage. 

The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is unavailable having been pre-booked for other events. Instead, the matches from 23-25 October will be played at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium, with the fixtures of 26-29 October taking place at the Madibaz Stadium at the Nelson Mandela University.