Namibia’s Brave Warriors were crushed to a 4-1 away defeat to Senegal at the Lat-Dior Stadium in Thiès, in Group H of the 2022 Qatar International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup qualifier on Saturday.
Africa’s number one ranked team Senegal took the lead in the 10th minute when Idrissa Gana Gueye beat Virgil Vries with a neat finish before Famara Diédhiou made it 2-0 in the 38th minute to leave Senegal leading 2-0 at halftime.
The second half saw Namibia being the better side, matching their opponents pound for pound but the quality of Senegal was not to be denied as Sadio Mané danced his way through the Namibian midfield before calmly finishing with a left-foot shot that gave Vries no chance in the 55th minute.
Namibia refused to give up and continued to create clear cut chances which were missed by Deon Hotto, Peter Shalulile, Willy Stephanus and Elmo Kambindu before substitute Joslin Kamatuka bungled in a rebound to make it 3-1 five minutes after coming on for Kambindu.
Senegal seemed to be rattled by that goal as they allowed Namibia to dominate in possession and Hotto’s indecisiveness saw him pass to Shalulile instead of scoring into an empty net after Édouard Mendy fluffed his clearance.
Next to miss was Shalulile who shot over the bar after racing clear of the Lions of Taranga’s defence with Mendy well beaten.
That proved to be costly misses as Senegal punished Namibia with a fourth goal to seal the tie through substitute Keita Baldé on 83 minutes after Mané who outmuscled Charles Hambira to release his strike partner whose only job was to tap the ball into an empty net making it 4-1.
The win sees Senegal maintain their grip on Group H with nine points from three matches while Namibia remains second on four after suffering their first defeat in the qualifiers.
Congo is in third place with two points while Togo remains bottom with a single point following the sides’ one-all draw in Lomé on the same day.
Namibia and Senegal will meet again at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday, 12 October for another big match in Group H.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
