The Brave Gladiators concluded their 2021 Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) 2021 Women’s Championship Tournament with a 1-0 victory over Eswatini at the Madibaz Stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa on Tuesday.
Woman of the Match and defender-turned-striker Lovisa Mulunga scored Namibia’s only goal in the 34th minute after Eswatini failed to clear a perfectly placed free-kick.
Namibia started the match well, pinning their opponents in their own half, but could not utilise the large chunks of ball possession.
This allowed Eswatini to gain confidence and crawl their way back into the game, but it was Namibia who managed to score first through Mulunga, who was surprisingly thrust into an attacking role for the match and made her presence felt.
Coach Woody Jacobs made some surprising tactical switches, thrusting the usually dependable defenders Mulunga and Lina Katuta into striking position with Memory Ngonda.
Nicole Philander filled in at right-back, while Lydiana Nanamus partnered with Captain Eddelsisingh Naris in the heart of the defence and Veronica Van Wyk was thrust at left-back in a new look defence for the Gladiators.
In the midfield, Asteria Angula, Annouschka Kordom and Shanice Daries ably supported the trio of Ngonda, Katuta and Mulunga upfront.
Brave Gladiators coach Jacobs said fate was not on his side as they were eliminated early and will build on the performances at the Cosafa going forward.
“The tournament showcased a lot of facilities and good things for my team. We have a daunting task of Tanzania in the coming two weeks, so we are going to prepare well for them,” he said.
He added that he changed the position of the players just to see what they could do and have options because his players are versatile and can adapt to playing in various positions.
In another match, Zambia beat Uganda by a similar scoreline to finish the group stages unbeaten.
Zambia tops the pool with nine points, followed by Uganda (four), Namibia (four) and Eswatini (zero).
Namibia was eliminated from the tournament after losing 3-0 to Zambia and drawing nil-all with Uganda in their opening two matches.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
