Namibia beats Zimbabwe at Cosafa

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Namibia on Saturday overcame Zimbabwe by 2-0 to stay on top of Group B at the Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup tournament currently underway at the Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

This was Namibia’s second match of the tournament and the two goals in the second half saw the Brave Warriors brush aside their more fancied opponents with the man of the match Elmo Kambindu creating the first goal and scoring the second one.

Namibia went ahead in the 70th minute when captain Willy Stephanus floated in an inch-perfect pass to Kambindu in the 18-yard box.

The gangling Namibian striker’s cross was turned into the net by Zimbabwean left-back Qadr Amini who failed to clear his lines following Jimmy Dzingai’s failed clearance, leaving Namibia leading by 1-0.

Kambindu was back to hurt the Zimbabweans when he latched on to a through pass from fellow striker Isaskar Gurirab in the 75th minute to seal the three points for the Brave Warriors.

The victory sees Namibia lead Group B standings on six points, followed by guest team Senegal.

Zimbabwe remains in the third position with two points following two draws in their first three matches.

Malawi is at the bottom of the log with zero points from two matches.

Speaking to SuperSport Television after the match, Namibia Coach Bobby Samaria said the change of tactics in the second half had carried the day for them.

“We needed to win the match for our nerves to calm down. Our opponents made us work hard for this result. Our central defense was magnificent, we were vindicated for bringing Charles Hambira into the defense as he thwarted the Zimbabwean attacks. Our all attack system in the second half yielded the results,” Samaria said.

Kambinda was ecstatic after picking up his second man of the match award in Namibia’s two matches saying it was a team performance.

“I am happy with my performance. We noticed they were playing too deep hence we started playing Ariel balls and fight off the second ball,” he said.

Namibia will now play Malawi on Tuesday (13 July) and Mozambique the next day.

The top two teams from the two groups will meet in the semi-finals

Source: Namibia Press Agenxy