• Football

Cosafa campaign: Benjamin remains positive

• 3 Months Ago 01 July 2024

Brave Warriors coach Collin Benjamin remains positive his team is still in with a realistic chance of qualifying for the Cosafa Cup semi-final.

Namibia played to a goalless draw against Angola on Friday night in their opening group C fixture in Gqeberha, South Africa.

In an entertaining encounter, both teams failed to produce a master-class as the attackers on both sides fired blanks.

"I would not say I am disappointed, because we emphatically did have a good game.

“As a coach, one would always love to see more and better, but it was unfortunately not the day.

"We are still in it and we can always bounce back to win the next match,” Benjamin said.

The result kept the group wide open, given that Lesotho and Seychelles also played to a 1-1 draw in the other group C fixture.

This means that all four teams have one point each at the moment, each with two matches to play.

Namibia will confront Lesotho today at 15:00, while Seychelles is set to battle Angola (12:00).

It was the seventh ever draw for Seychelles in the Cosafa Cup, to go with one win and 27 defeats. Lesotho could not hold on to their lead provided by Jane Thabantso’s seventh Cosafa Cup goal after 19 minutes, while Seychelles found an equaliser midway through the second half via Lorenzo Hoareau to earn themselves a point.

Benjamin says: “The second match is crucial, because a win could be a positive thing for us.

"All we have to do is push for that victory and make sure we get it.

"I think our situation still looks good and three points can literally bring us closer to what we want to achieve," Benjamin added.

In other matches played on Saturday, Eswatini and Mozambique also played to a goalless draw in their encounter.

South Africa and Botswana also fired blanks on Saturday, playing to a 0-0 result.

Former national team footballer Rudi Louw says the teams are not up to standard in the tournament, because they do not bring their A game.

“Well, I can say that the football associations in this competition do not always bring their top players anymore and that is why the tournament lacks that flair.

“Many of the teams playing here choose to give an opportunity to their youngsters and that is why it has not been the kind of tournament people anticipate it to be,” Louw said.