A DEFIANT African Stars coach Bobby Samaria remained confident of victory when they meet Raja Casablanca in their Caf Confederations Cup return leg in Casablanca next weekend.
On Saturday, the defending champions Raja scored an important away goal to hold Stars to a 1-1 draw at the Sam Nujoma Stadium, but after the match Samaria remained confident that they could beat Raja on their home turf and progress to the lucrative group stages of the competition.
“Nobody gave us a chance and nobody expected us to get this result against them so we are going there knowing that this game is still relevant. We unfortunately gave them an away goal so we will now just go there to get a goal as well and then it’s game on again,” he said.
Alfeus Handura gave Stars the lead with a great shot shortly before halftime, but Raja soon struck back as Soufiane Rahimi equalised three minutes into the second half.
Stars pushed hard for the winner in the final stages, but Raja managed to hang on for a valuable point.
Samaria said they had studied Raja and prepared well for the match, while the hot weather conditions also helped them.
“They came here and the good thing is that the hot sun helped us and we kept our strategy. We knew they are poor travellers, they conceded three goals in their last away game against AS Vita and two of those goals came from the wings, as a result we decided to stretch them and we also got our goal from the wing. It’s just a pity that we conceded a goal from a silly corner and the guys were asleep, but those are the margins, you make one small error and you get punished,” he said.
There wasn’t much action in the first half with Raja content to pass the ball around at the back and launch the odd long ball attack, although Zakaria Hadraf and Abdelilah Hafidi put in some strong attacks.
At the other end Stars rarely threatened Raja’s defence and Stars striker Roger Katjiteo was brought off due to an injury after 30 minutes and replaced by Panduleni Nekundi.
The match finally came to life with a great goal by Handura on 39 minutes when he received a pass from Crispin Mbewe from the left wing and fired a shot into the left hand corner.
Raja equalised early in the second half when they caught Stars’ defence sleeping with Mahmoud Benhalib sending in a cross from the right and an unmarked Rahimi tapped the ball into the net at the far post.
Stars’ keeper Ratanda Mbazuvara brought off a great diving save to deny Hafidi, but spurred on by their battling captain Ronald Ketjijere, more chances started coming Stars’ way.
Ambrosius Amseb sent in some inviting crosses from the left wing while Nekundi was a handful with his constant pressure.
Nekundi and another substitute Gustav Isaak both had shots blocked in the final stages, while Mbazuvara did well to save from Iajour Mouhssine in a rare attack just before full time.
Raja coach Juan Carlos Garrido said the match should not have taken place due to the hot weather.
“It was a very tough game especially because of the weather and in my opinion it was unacceptable to play this game in this kind of weather. Only the people who were on the pitch know how difficult it was to play this match and it was terrible to play in these temperatures.
He added that they should have got a penalty late in the match and congratulated his players on overcoming the obstacles in their way.
“We had to play in difficult conditions including the fact that the referee was not really focussed so we have to congratulate our players who overcame all these obstacles.
“We knew it would be a very difficult match and that African Stars are a very good team, they are the Namibian champions and it was a very important match for them, because they knew they had a big chance at home,” he added.
Garrida, however, sounded optimistic that they would win the return leg next Sunday.
“Now we have a good chance to win the next match in Casablanca to qualify for the next round. Our goal is to qualify but we’ll have to fight in the next match to get it,” he said.
