The Brave Gladiators lost 2-1 to African Women’s Champions Mamelodi Sundowns in a friendly match played at Chloorkop in South Africa on Saturday afternoon.

The friendly game prepared the Gladiators for their 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (WAFCON) final qualification round of the 12th edition of the Women’s tournament against Zambia scheduled for 16 and 23 February 2022.

Namibia will first play Zambia in Lusaka on the 16th before the return leg in Johannesburg on 22 February to determine who qualifies for the WAFCON scheduled for Morocco between 02 and 23 July and will double up as the African qualifiers for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

According to Namibia Football Association reports from South Africa, Brave Gladiators took the lead through Viola Vliete who capitalised on poor defending by the host’s goalkeeper to score a rebound.

However, Sundowns Ladies came back strongly in the second half forcing the Namibians to commit defensive mistakes and concede two goals from long range.

Speaking to Nampa from South Africa, Coach Woody Jacobs lamented his team’s lack of game time saying the girls showed improvement in their physical and tactical abilities.

“We are grateful to play such a game with Sundowns. We gave the entire squad a runout. We made good progress in our preparations. I am pleased with the performance that I saw today, we are ready to face Zambia,” Jacobs said.

Meanwhile their opponents Zambia thrashed South Africa 3-0 in a women’s international friendly played at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka on the same day.

Barbara Banda scored a first-half brace with Avell Chitundu adding Zambia’s third.

The two teams were using the friendly as a warm-up for their 2022 Women’s AFCON final round qualifiers against Namibia and Algeria.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency