AN abysmal performance at home on Tuesday night left the Brave Warriors virtually out of contention for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The 2-1 scoreline in favour of Mali was flattering to the hosts who could have lost by a larger margin in the haunting echoes of the empty Sam Nujoma Stadium.
Just as well that fans did not have to suffer the indignity of watching their national team being toyed with in person by the totally dominant Mali Eagles.
Many would be forgiven for opting to change the channel or go to bed altogether.
The result meant Mali, who moved to 10 points, qualified for the finals in Cameroon with two matches to spare, while Namibia (3) hope for a miracle to overtake Guinea (8) in second place.
Chad, who have one point, are already out of the qualifying race.
Two unlikely defeats in their remaining matches for Guinea, coupled with maximum points for the Warriors in theirs will see Namibia qualify as the second team from Group A.
“It was one of the worst performances I have seen of the team. We were not at the races. There was no confidence or a willingness to fight for the jersey or the coach,” his former assistant, Woody Jacobs, told The Namibian Sport in his assessment of the one-side affair.
That head coach Bobby Samaria, who has a notoriously uneasy relationship with the media, has maintained a deafening silence after the match which speaks volumes about how dire a showing that was.
Naturally, he is the first person to shoulder the blame when the team loses, given his role. A number of his key players were woeful too.
“I don’t know what to attribute it to. But I cannot remember a game where we played this poorly, even when we lost by bigger scores,” he said.
Experienced gaffer Ali Akan too was left scratching his grey head over the Warriors’ horrendous showing.
“There was nothing positive. It is the first time I’m seeing Namibia play so badly at home. It was very flat. The players lacked motivation. There were a lot of individual mistakes and it looked like the players didn’t understand what they were supposed to do. The other team controlled the game,” he observed.
They agreed that Tuesday’s tactics were the undoing of the Brave Warriors who looked disorganised and bewildered.
Samaria deviated from his regular pragmatic approach, which served them relatively well in the 1-0 to Mali loss in Bamako and 2-0 defeat to Guinea in Conakry, in favour of a system that exposed the fitness shortcomings of his homebased charges, with the exception of the brilliant and tireless Elmo Kambindu.
“We were too open. You don’t play that open against a team of that calibre,” said Jacobs.
Mali hogged possession for long spells of the match, impressing with their movement and industry as their rivals chased shadows.
They scored early, just after 11 minutes when a defensive lapse by Ananias Gebhardt ended with precocious youngster Sekou Koita’s deflected shot from outside the box beat a despairing Virgil Vries.
The visitors’ second came on 36 minutes through Mousa Doumbia, who skinned a worse-for-wear Larry Horaeb before crashing in a shot at the near post.
Kambindu, who, along with shot-stopper Vries, were Namibia’s best players, reduced arrears with a towering header from an in-swinging delivery by Iimbondi a minute later.
Vries pulled off a great save to parry El Bilal Toure’s penalty on 59 minutes after after substitute Riaan !Hanamub fouled Doumbia.
!Hanamub came the closest to equalising for Namibia when his thunderbolt in the 83rd minute cannoned back off the upright.
Samaria’s decision to pair Denzil Haoseb and captain Petrus Shitembi at the base of midfield in a 4-4-2 resulted in the Malians, who fielded three in the middle of the park, running amok.
They were flanked by an underwhelming Deon Hotto and ponderous Absalom Iimbondi.
It was a strange decision to leave out the disruptive Dynamo Fredericks and hard-tackling Alfeus Handura against physical visitors whose primary strength is bulldozing through the centre.
“If you play with Shitembi in the middle it won’t work. A 4-4-2 needs two steady midfielders who will stay. Shitembi left Denzil alone,” said Black Africa coach Paulus Shipanga.
The Egypt-based centre forward struggled to adapt to an unfamiliar left-wing position and was subbed for Panduleni Nekundi towards the end of the match.
“I don’t know what motivated the Benson change in the first place. Unless they had shifted Shalulile on the left wing and put Shilongo in front, it would have made a bit of sense. But putting him [Shilongo] on the wing was a disaster. Imagine being put in at the wrong position and being replaced. It’s heartbreaking,” Shipanga said.
