Young Warriors coach James Britz said inexperience from his players led to his side’s surprise 1-0 defeat to Comoros in their opening Group C match of the U20 Council of Southern Africa Football Association at Somhlolo Stadium in Eswatini.

Speaking to Nampa on Sunday from Eswatini, Britz said his charges failed to utilise the large amount of possession and chances they created in the first half against Comoros before falling to a sucker punch goal late in the match.

“We had a very good game, especially in the first seven to 10 minutes, we had three one on one opportunities which we did not convert. We dominated the match but inexperience cost us,” Britz said.

He added that their opponents had brought in players who are based in Portugal and their experience showed especially in the second half.

Britz said his charges impressed him with the way they retained possession and how they handled themselves in the 50-50 situations adding that for the match against South Africa on Monday, they will have to play compact football and avoid losing concertation the way they did when conceding against Comoros.

In terms of the match itself, the Young Warriors dominated the first 45 minutes with their opponents banking on counter-attacking football.

In the second half, Comoros were a better side and took the game to the Namibians who then fell to a sucker punch goal in the 77th minute from Samuel Betombo.

Meanwhile, in the other group games, South Africa lost to Malawi by 2-0.

This means that Malawi tops the log followed by Comoros in second with Namibia third ahead of South Africa on goal difference.

Namibia’s next match is against South Africa on Monday before concluding their group stages against Malawi on 12 October.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency