Namibia’s Cosafa Women’s Championship ended on a positive note, following a 2-0 win over Lesotho to close off their ‘group of death’ programme in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Emma Naris scored in the first half, while Irene Kooper grabbed the winner in that encounter as last year’s semi-finalists also bowed out of the competition.
The result meant Namibia finished third in Group C on four points, behind Zimbabwe (7) and Botswana (5) who played out a 1-1 stalemate in their final pool game on Wednesday.
“We had a certain eye on the Olympic qualifiers against Morocco that we will play in about two weeks. So, we wanted to give some opportunities to certain players and broaden our horizon in terms of selection.
“I think they stood up and raised their hands to say ‘coaches, we’re here’.
The Brave Gladiators did well at the tournament where they were without some of their key players, coach Marvin Mbakera says.
“Overall, it’s been a good performance by the girls. This game was important in terms of lifting the mood. It’s a good sign. Moving forward, I think the girls will take it further,” he says.
“It [the tournament] exposed the girls to competitive international football. Not all associations are able to get international friendlies.
“One has to appreciate Cosafa for organising these competitions to make sure the girls get regular games.
“The team learnt to play without the influential forward Zenatha Coleman whose ability to lift her teammates level was sorely missed.”
Lesotho coach Pule Khojane chose to focus on positives after his side lost their third consecutive match, having conceded six goals and scored none.
“Congratulations to Namibia for winning the game. We wanted three points also. They scored two goals, which we were not expecting,” he says.
“The girls played well. The performance was at least 80% what I wanted, but unfortunately it was not at par. At the end of the day it was a learning curve for us,” he says.
“We know why we didn’t perform well in this tournament, and why the results are like this. We’ll go back to the drawing board and plan again.”
