Africa-Press – Namibia. BRAVE Warriors interim head coach Bobby Samaria still believes in his charges, despite a disappointing display in their Africa Cup of Nations Group C opening qualifier, which ended in a one-all stalemate against Burundi in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Namibia looked on course to get their qualifying campaign off to a positive start, when star striker Peter Shalulile rifled them ahead 10 minutes into the error-strewn encounter.
However, that early enterprise gradually dissipated as the home side put in a calamitous second half showing, to allow 10-man Burundi a share of the spoils when Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana steered home a late equaliser.
The Burundi striker was sent off for removing his shirt when celebrating, picking up a second yellow for the indiscretion.
“We take it with a pinch of salt because we were leading. We had the early goal, we wanted to kill it off with a second but it was not to be,” Samaria said in his post match brief.
“I think in the second half, especially in the moments of transition going forward, we have very good opportunities but our final pass is what let us down.”
After a bright and sprightly start, the Brave Warriors alarmingly morphed into an incongruous bunch for the remainder of the “tough match.”
Repeatedly misplacing rudimentary passes, poor decision making and fluctuating energy levels were the hallmarks of their performance.
But when placed in context, the Brave Warriors’ uninspiring display was not entirely unexpected, given that the hosts were hit with a spate of late withdrawals of key personnel through injury, personal reasons and Covid-19.
Samaria’s biggest challenge appeared in getting his match fit stars from abroad to work in tandem with the action-deprived home-based amateurs.
Returning from a long injury lay-off, skipper Petrus Shitembi, tasked with being the creative fulcrum of the side, also struggled to get on the same wavelength as his teammates.
“It’s extremely difficult. We are faced with a lot of challenges but it’s up to us to try and be bigger than the challenges we face,” Samaria said when quizzed about relying on inactive footballers to compete at international level.
Nonetheless, he believes that the Brave Warriors can qualify for the Afcon finals and be competitive in Ivory Coast.
Namibia are looking to return to the continental finals after last appearing in Egypt in 2019.
“We have to find a strategy for the way forward to ensure that the local league starts, and we prepare our boys better. So, it’s for us to regroup, plan better, believe and come back a stronger team,” Samaria said.
“The character of the team, by nature, we fight. It’s not all doom and gloom. The heads are now down because we really wanted to start off with three points, but it was not to be.
“We keep on, keep our heads high and let’s try again.
“They came here and got a goal, we can equally go there and also get two goals. When we play away, we need to have a positive result.
“We will go back and see how to fit both into our attacking line, as having both would be to our an advantage,” he said.
Burundi’s coach Jimmy Ndayizeye felt his side partially delivered on their objective. They began to fight back towards the end of the first half, applying sustained pressure on the Namibian defence. They were finally rewarded for their efforts with a free kick two minutes from time, as giant centre back Frederic Nsabiyumva headed the ball into Bimenyimana’s path, and he made no mistake from close range.
“We came here with the intention to get all three points or a draw. It was a very tough game,” he said via an interpreter.
“We played away. To get one point is not to say it’s a bad result. We still have a game against Namibia back home. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the three points but we take what we got.”
Burundi next play Cameroon on Thursday, with Namibia sitting out match-day two, following their opponent Kenya’s expulsion from the qualifiers.
The Brave Warriors resume their campaign on 19 September, away to Cameroon.
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