Brave Warriors captain Peter Shalulile missed a first-half penalty as Namibia suffered a 1-0 defeat to Togo in their last Group H 2022 World Cup qualifier at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg.

Shalulile won the penalty in the 34th minute after he was pulled down in the box by a Togolese defender, but dusted himself up to send his shot against the upright, albeit with the help of the goalkeeper’s touch.

Namibia who had already been eliminated from the final world cup qualifying round needed to beat Togo in order to finish second in the group behind winners Senegal, but they failed to produce any meaningful scoring chances, except the missed penalty throughout the 90 minutes.

However, Namibia was lucky to survive a penalty call after Absalom Iimbondi appeared to handle in the box, but the referee waved away the Togolese appeal.

The two sides went into the halftime tied at nil-all, and Togo showed more desire going forward and were rewarded in the 88th minute when they sliced through the Namibian defence and scored the winning goal.

Speaking at the end of the match, Coach Bobby Samaria said they expected Togo to be guns blazing especially after playing a one-all draw against Senegal.

“This is not the result that we wanted, we wanted to finish second. We played a couple of young players and they did well. It was always a very tough group but we managed to get a couple of good results,” Samaria said.

He added that his team was not composed in the final third, and the team must learn to take their chances.

The defeat is Namibia’s third in six matches after winning one and drawing two in their six group six matches.

They finished third on the log with five points behind second-placed Togo who have eight points and group winners Senegal who have 16 points.

Congo anchors the log with three points.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency