TWO thrilling Brave Warriors clashes have been listed in the Cosafa Cup’s all time top five best games of the competition.
Yesterday, Cosafa named the five most magical encounters that have been written into Southern African football folklore since the competition was first played in 1997.
It’s part of a series of promotional material leading up to the historic 20th edition of the regional showpiece to be staged in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa from July 7-18.
One-time winners Namibia will look to make another memorable impression on the tournament when they face guest nation Senegal, record winners Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the group phase next month.
In the same fashion they did in the derby top of the classics’ list against neighbours South Africa in Windhoek on 24 January, 1998.
NAMIBIA 3-2 SOUTH AFRICA – 24 JANUARY 1998
One of the great early moments in the Cosafa Cup came in the second tournament held in 1998 as Namibia stunned South Africa’s Fifa World Cup-bound stars with a 3-2 victory in Windhoek.
The victory made Namibia at the time only the third team from the Southern African region to defeat Bafana Bafana after Zimbabwe and Zambia, and was one of the finest hours for coach Rusten Mogane at the country’s Independence Stadium.
South Africa had not competed in the inaugural Cosafa Cup competition the year before but with the World Cup in France looming, caretaker coach Jomo Sono was eager to give his squad a run.
They arrived in Windhoek for the game with most of their top stars, including emerging teenager Benni McCarthy, Phil Masinga, Mark Fish and Brian Baloyi.
And all appeared to be going to plan as Thabo Mooki put South Africa ahead six minutes before halftime, driving a low shot past home goalkeeper Ronny Kanalelo.
But shortly afterwards, Namibia were back level as Bafana Bafana hesitated at the back and 31-year-old centre-back Stanley Goagoseb was able to drill the ball into the roof of the net.
South Africa were back in front just past the hour-mark when McCarthy showed some excellent skills to dribble past three defenders and set up Masinga for the easiest of finishes. It looked as though the visitors had the game sewn up, before Bimbo Tjihero blasted home a free-kick just a minute from the end to make the score 2-2 and send the epic fixture into extra-time.
The decisive moment of the game came in the 100th minute when Johannes ‘Congo’ Hindjou dazzled the South African defence with some fast footwork and his cross was met by Berlin Auchumeb to send the home crowd into ecstasy.
The match was part of a winless run of nine matches for Bafana Bafana that would come to an end at the 1998 African Nations Cup finals … against Namibia.
Sono’s men got some revenge as McCarthy netted four goals in 13 first half minutes at the finals in Burkina Faso to secure a 4-1 success.
So South Africa’s first ever Cosafa Cup tournament was brought to an early end, while Namibia would go on to finish fourth in the final round pool stage.
MADAGASCAR 2- 3 NAMIBIA – 28 MAY 2015
Namibia’s second entry on the list sits at number four, and is from their title winning campaign.
The Brave Warriors booked their place in the final of the 2015 COSAFA Cup with an epic 3-2 victory over Madagascar in a see-saw semifinal that will forever go down as a classic clash in the competition.
The Brave Warriors would go on to lift the title after a far more routine 2-0 victory over Mozambique, but not before they had to come through a huge test against the Malagasy.
Peter Shalulile got the winner for the Brave Warriors six minutes from time after Namibia had led early on, but then fell behind to two quick-fire goals from the islanders.
Benson Shilongo gave Namibia the lead on 18 minutes with a neat finish, but Sarivahy Vombola, who would end up as top-scorer in the 2015 COSAFA Cup, profited from two defensive errors from the Namibians to turn the tables and make the score 2-1 in Madagascar’s favour.
Namibia did not panic though and Shilongo equalised just past the half-hour mark in what was a frenetic start to the game. Both sides had their chances after that with Shalulile in particular missing a sitter that he would have scored 99 times out of 100.
He finally did get the winner though when he turned home a cross to send the Namibian squad into rapturous celebration.
Namibia, who hosted the 2016 Cosafa Cup, become just the fifth side to win the trophy.
ZIMBABWE 0-2 ESWATINI – 5 MAY 2002
Second on the list is Eswatini’s shocking 2-0 quarter-final triumph over Zimbabwe in Harare during the 2020 edition.
It was one of the great shocks in the early years of the COSAFA Cup and still today remains one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s 24-year history. At the time it was arguably the biggest victory in the storied existence of the Eswatini national side, who were then ranked number 132 in the world, but came away with a win against a home team placed 67 positions above them.-
