Wounded Young Warriors face Malawi today
Namibia lost 1- 0 to Zambia in their opening match of the 2020 Cosafa U/20 Cup at the Wolfson Stadium in Nelson Mandela Bay on Friday. This year’s tournament serves as a qualifier for next year’s U/20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals in Mauritania.
Golden Mashata scored the deciding goal against the Young Warriors who have been absent from the regional showpiece for some years but showed great enterprise on the day.
Namibia failed to adequately clear a cross and when the ball fell to Mashata unmarked in the box, his powerful left-footed shot nestled in the bottom corner of the net.
“The match was not bad at all, we had some good moments and bad ones as well. The game plan was well executed but not 100%, the transition was very slow, and the boys won balls to attack but gave them away real fast to Zambia. It was evident that we lacked ball possession even though we had shots on target but they were not effective because it was directed to the goalkeeper,” says James Britz, coach of the Young Warriors.
He added that they will bounce back in today’s match against Malawi. “We will go back to the drawing board because the aim is to qualify for the semifinals and we still have two more games to play.”
Namibia’s final group match will be against the Comoros on Wednesday, 9 December. The Young Warriors are in Group B of the 2020 Cosafa U/20 Cup alongside Zambia, Malawi and Comoros.
Only the top team in each pool as well as best-placed runner-up will advance to the semi-finals, while the two finalists at this year’s competition will win a place at the 2021 U/20 Afcon.