Erasmus Shalihaxwe
Namibia’s under-17 girls team head coach, Errol Damaseb, says a lack of concentration cost them their opening match against Malawi.
Namibia lost 0-3 to Malawi in the first game of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) under-17 girls tournament.
The tournament started on Saturday at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek.
Damaseb said the team started the game well but conceded two goals from set pieces, which he believes should not have happened.
He said the players regrouped in the second half but began to lose focus and could not recover from the early goals.
“That was eventually what cost us the game, but we will go back to the drawing board and prepare well for the next game,” he said.
He said the short preparation period was not the reason for their poor performance.
Instead, he blamed the lack of concentration, which he said is common in this age group and these types of tournaments.
“We just lost focus in the clinical moment of the game, conceding from set pieces, losing possession and then conceding from transition, which is very clinical.
So we will have to go back to the drawing board and fix those errors that cost us the match today,” said Damaseb.
He said he believes the players can bounce back in the upcoming games because most of them played together at the under-15 level during last year’s schools’ championship.
Namibia must win their next match against Comoros on Tuesday at the same venue to stay in the tournament.
A loss would see them eliminated.
Malawi’s head coach, Chisomo Nkhom, said she was pleased with the team’s performance against the hosts.
“Our target is now to win both games, because for us to progress further, we need to have six points, which will help us reach the semi-finals. So when we meet Comoros in the next game, we will approach it with more aggression; I will encourage our girls to put more pressure on the opponents,” said Nkhoma.
