Gladiators to play for pride 

Memory Ngonda in action against Seychelles. File photo

The Brave Gladiators should hold their heads high despite not realising their objective of reaching the 2024 Cosafa Women’s Championship challenging for honours, head coach Woody Jacobs says.

Namibia were eliminated at the group stage even though they recovered from their heartbreaking 1-0 derby defeat to hosts South Africa on Tuesday, with a 7-0 demolition of Seychelles at Isaac Wolfson Stadium in Gqeberha on Friday.

South Africa’s Banyana secured a place in the semi-finals from Group A, following a 3-0 win over Eswatini at the same venue.

Nonetheless, Namibia intend to leave the tournament with another morale-boosting result against Eswatini in their dead rubber today, with Seychelles, who are yet to score at the tournament, having also lost 6-0 to Eswatini, facing South Africa.

“We expected a win first and foremost. We wanted to really play well and get confidence going into the next match, irrespective of what’s going to happen,” Jacobs says of the Seychelles result.

Fiola Vleite netted a hat-trick as Namibia outclassed Seychelles, with other goals coming from Twelikondjele Amukoto, a brace from Irene Kooper and captain Zenatha Coleman, who also had two assists and got the player-of-the-match prize.

The Gladiators came into the encounter needing to win by a large margin to give themselves a shot at qualifying for the knockouts and hope that South Africa and Eswtini play to a draw.

“Overall, I’m happy and I told them we expect more from a team that has come as far as Namibia,” Jacobs says.

“These girls have been together for more than 10 years, the majority of them, and we just expect them to do well every time. Sometimes, when we don’t do well, we’re really disappointed, but I understand football,” he says.

“I’ve been long in the game to understand it to say that it will not always pan out in the manner that you want.”

“I’m happy for the girls who scored, I’m happy about the way they played, and we just take it on into the next game against Eswatini.”

Jacobs had words of encouragement for competition debutantes Seychelles, saying the heavy scoreline against superior opponents would help them improve.

While not a powerhouse, Namibia went through the same arduous journey before being able to go toe to toe with the best on the continent.

Jacobs believes Seychelles were better than what the heavy scoreline suggests.

“It was not a training match. I think Seychelles really equipped themselves well, and you can see it’s a young team. If they are kept together they can go and develop as a greater force, and I think in years to come they will definitely win matches at this tournament,” he says.

“I mean the game can only improve when the players get better, and if you wallop teams and you hammer them, at least it was not beyond the double digits.

“So, for that I’m glad because for me that’s not football, and that’s not the way football should be played when it’s one-sided. So, yes, they gave us a good run for our money.”

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