{"id":12980,"date":"2022-02-23T15:26:49","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T15:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic"},"modified":"2022-02-23T16:17:48","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T16:17:48","slug":"spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic","title":{"rendered":"Spirited Gladiators miss out on AWCON \u2026Jacobs remains optimistic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Although the Brave Gladiators agonisingly missed out on a crucial opportunity to book themselves a place at this year\u2019s Africa Women\u2019s Cup of Nations, an optimistic coach Woody Jacobs says the future looks bright for his girls as yesterday\u2019s clash was a monumental learning curve.<\/p>\n

The Gladiators, who at one point looked well set for victory in the final-round qualifier, were punished for their lapse of concentration in the dying minutes of the action-packed encounter as substitute Siomala Mapepa equalised in the 70th minute to steer Zambia to a vital win.<\/p>\n

Namibia was first to draw blood, thanks to captain Emma Naris\u2019 6th minute effort, which saw the spirited Gladiators heading into the changeover with a comfortable 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

The second half was a whole different ball game for the Gladiators as the fighting Copper Queens unleashed attacks from all angles, and it continuously proved to be the Gladiators\u2019 biggest Achilles heel as they struggled to absorb the pressure.<\/p>\n

The very physical and tactically well-oiled Zambians kept paddling forward, and their undying efforts were rewarded when Mapepa pounced on a loose ball and beat two Namibian defenders before burying the ball into the left corner to level matters.<\/p>\n

Despite numerous attempts by the Gladiators in the last minutes, the score remained 1-1, and saw Zambia automatically qualifying for this year\u2019s Africa Women\u2019s Cup of Nations (AWCON) as a result of the away-goal advantage.<\/p>\n

The two teams played to a goalless draw in the first leg of the competition last Wednesday in Lusaka, and that first-leg result played in Zambia\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on yesterday\u2019s disheartening outcome, Jacobs admitted that it is painful seeing his team not qualifying for this year\u2019s AWCON, especially given all the hard work and preparations they have put in. But he remains optimistic about the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy girls really tried their level best, and kept the lead for the entire opening half. But we unfortunately threw it away in the last minutes, and we got punished for it. With this away goal advantage rules, it is always important to take your chances and make sure that you put the game away while you still have the chance. We tried, but things didn\u2019t go our way,\u201d said Jacobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs disappointing as it is, I\u2019m still happy with how the girls fought and from here, going forward, I can only say the future looks bright for our women\u2019s football. We have a very promising team in this group of girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2022 AWCON will run from 2-23 July in Morocco. It also doubles as the African qualifiers to the 2023 Fifa Women\u2019s World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Zambia previously reached the 2014 and 2018 editions of the AWCON, while Namibia\u2019s only appearance came in 2014 when the country hosted the tournament.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Although the Brave Gladiators agonisingly missed out on a crucial opportunity to book themselves a place at this year\u2019s Africa Women\u2019s Cup of Nations, an optimistic coach Woody Jacobs says the future looks bright for his girls as yesterday\u2019s clash was a monumental learning curve. The Gladiators, who at one point looked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":12979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-12980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nSpirited Gladiators miss out on AWCON \u2026Jacobs remains optimistic - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Although the Brave Gladiators agonisingly missed out on a crucial opportunity to book themselves a place at this year\u2019s ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spirited Gladiators miss out on AWCON \u2026Jacobs remains optimistic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Although the Brave Gladiators agonisingly missed out on a crucial opportunity to book themselves a place at this year\u2019s ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-23T15:26:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-23T16:17:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/02\/img-62165e0dc20c5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Spirited Gladiators miss out on AWCON \u2026Jacobs remains optimistic\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-23T15:26:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-23T16:17:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic\"},\"wordCount\":496,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/02\/img-62165e0dc20c5.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/spirited-gladiators-miss-out-on-awcon-jacobs-remains-optimistic\",\"name\":\"Spirited Gladiators miss out on AWCON \u2026Jacobs remains optimistic - 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