The Brave Gladiators lost their opening game of the 2022 Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Women’s Championship by a 2-0 scoreline to Zambia at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

Namibia started like a house on fire with Beverly Uueziua shooting wide in the first minute after being put through by Memory Ngonda.

World Cup-bound Zambia responded immediately with captain Barbra Banda emulating Uueziua to shoot wide after a counterattack.

Namibia did not heed the warning as Banda punished them a minute later from a similar counter-attacking situation to make her side the lead.

The match became physical with tackles flying all over the place forcing the match official from Madagascar to flash three yellow cards in the first half, with two of them going Namibia’s way.

Banda continued to show why she is Shepolopolo’s top player when she rattled the upright following yet another sweeping counter-attacking moving from the Zambians.

Zambia continued to dominate the proceedings and led 1-0 at halftime as Namibia failed to create any meaningful chances.

The second half saw Zambia continue with their dominance and once again Banda found the back of the net from another counter-attacking move when a pass from Ochuba Oseke Lubanji from the left flank found her unmarked with acres of space.

The talismanic Banda had the easiest task of coolly placing her shot in the far corner to give her country a comfortable 2-0 victory and three points.

Namibia fought till the end of the match and had a claim for a penalty right at the death, but the match officials waved it away.

Speaking after the game, Paulus Shipanga, the Gladiators’ coach attributed her team’s loss to a lack of competitive action back home.

“We had a game plan, but unfortunately it did not work. Zambia is a strong team who performed well at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. They are a strong side. Experience played a huge role and it is back to the drawing board,” he said.

Namibia plays their next match on Sunday against Eswatini before facing Lesotho on Tuesday.

The top two teams in the group qualify for the semi-finals.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency