Africa-Press – Namibia. The Brave Warriors head into their final World Cup qualifier against Tunisia this afternoon, virtually out of the race for a place at next year’s global showpiece.
By yesterday, they still had a remote mathematical chance of qualifying for the 2026 Fifa World Cup, but their 3-1 defeat to Liberia on Thursday nearly all but ended it.
Despite the defeat, they still remain second in Group H, but results in the other eight CAF qualifying groups over the weekend have seen their chances receding.
On Thursday, Algeria became the fourth team to qualify for the World Cup when they beat Somalia 3-0 to win Group G and join Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt at the world cup.
The other five CAF group winners will also qualify automatically for the world cup, but the four best second-placed teams still have a remote chance of qualifying. They will progress to an African play-off tournament where the winner will advance to an inter-confederation play-off tournament, with the top two teams qualifying for the world cup.
Namibia (15 points), however, have dropped down to seventh place amongst the nine CAF group runners-up, with Gabon (22 points), Madagascar and DR Congo (19 each), and Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Uganda (18 points) now in the driving seat.
On Thursday, Liberia came out attacking from the start and took control of the game with two goals in the opening ten minutes.
They took a third minute lead when Ayouba Kosiah scored from the penalty spot after a foul in the box, while Sulahmana Bah made it 2-0 seven minutes later after breaking free down the right wing and sending an acute shot into the goal.
Namibia pushed hard to open their account but were caught on the counter when Liberia substitute Edward Ledlum madse it 3-0 with a fine shot from the left wing in the 81st minute.
Namibia finally opened their account when David Ndeunyema stabbed hom a cross by Deon Hotto in the 87th minute.
At the post match press conference Namibia coach Collin Benjamin said their game plan fell apart after conceding the early penalty.
“As early as the second minute, we were not too aggressive in the one on one on the wing. He comes in and commits one of our midfielders and gets a penalty in the second minute, so obviously, the whole game plan then fell apart. Seven minutes later, we couldn’t really get a grip on a loose ball on the right, they played a through ball, out goalkeeper committed, but unfortunately he couldnt get the ball and then it was 2-0,” he said.
“After that, we had most of the ball and created a few chances, and we were unlucky not to score. And then, obviously, trying to get that goal we had to open up and that’s where Liberia scored their third goal. Unfortunately some of our youngsters were involved in all of those actions and in international soccer you get punished and that’s what happened. But I still think it was a good display of character from my team. They kept playing and in the end, we lost 3-1 against a Liberia team that was very aggressive. They took their chances and congratulations to them,” he added.
Despite the defeat, Benjamin said he was proud of his team.
“I’m still proud of my team for the way they carried themselves in these qualifiers. We are sitting on 15 points in the transition period for these young players and I still think they will get beaten in Africa like this today, but they will definitely grow to become stronger. It’s a process that the boys have to go through and we will continue working,” he added.
Regarding today’s match against Tunisia, Benjamin said it will provide an opportunity for the players to gain international experience.
“I think it’s another chance for our team to grow and for the youngsters to get international experience which is very important for their growth and development,” he said.
Tunisia, meanwhile, thrashed Sao Tome & Principe 6-0 in Tunis on Friday night. The visitors managed to hold them goalless till the 36th minute when the floodgates opened, with three goals in seven minutes by Firas Chaouat and a brace by Elias Saad, to give Tunisia a 3-0 halftime lead.
After the break, Ismael Gharbi made it 4-0 while Mohamed Ben Romdhane added two more to give them a commanding victory.
They will enter as heavy favourites when they takle on Namibia at the 60 000-seat Hammadi Agrebi Stadium in Tunis this afternoon, but Namibia will draw inspiration from their recent encounters against the Eagles of Carthage.
On 9 June, they held them to a goalless draw in the world cup qualifier in Johannesburg, and on 16 January last year Namibia produced the upset of the 2024 Afcon finals in the Ivory Coast with a 1-0 victory against Tunisia.
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