NAMIBIA beat Madagascar 3-1 in a Pool D match at the Metropolitan Cosafa U/20 Championships in Botswana on Monday to keep alive their hopes of reaching the semifinals.
Namibia seemed to be cruising when they took a 3-0 lead shortly after halftime, but the islanders made a great comeback and may count themselves unfortunate not to have got something from the game.Petrus Shitembi handed Namibia the lead on 35 minutes, before he added a second with an excellent free-kick just before halftime.Edmund Kambanda added a third for the Young Brave Warriors just after halftime, but from then on the game was totally dominated by Madagascar.They got a magnificent goal back through Kassah Voavy as he thundered the ball past Collin Ndjai in the Namibian goal for arguably the finest strike of the tournament so far.Madagascar dominated the final stages, but the score remained 3-1 and Namibia have given themselves hope if they can beat Angola on Tuesday. Angola lead Group D after beating Zimbabwe 3-2 and will now just require a draw against Namibia to progress to the semifinals.In between these two games was a dead-rubber match that was won 3-1 by Lesotho over Seychelles in Group B, with Malawi already having progressed from this pool.Tuesday is D-Day for the remaining teams as they go into their final group matches with three places in the semifinals still up for grabs. In the other three-team pool, Group A, Botswana need to beat Swaziland by more than two clear goals to ensure their passage on goal difference.Group C will be decided with simultaneous kick-offs as South Africa take on Zambia in Molepolole and Tanzania play Mauritius at the University of Botswana Stadium in Gaborone. Both games kick off at 14h30.There are still three possible qualifiers from this pool, though either South Africa or Zambia would advance with a win. Should they draw, that will open the door for the Tanzanians, who will fancy their chances of beating Mauritius.- namibiasport.com.na
