Baby Gladiators target Comoros win after Malawi defeat

The good news is the margin of defeat for the Baby Gladiators against Malawi at Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek on Saturday was small.

The bad news is the hosts must win their next Cosafa Under-17 Women’s Championship match convincingly to stand a chance of progressing to the semi-finals as the best runner-up.

Poorly prepared Namibia lost their tournament opener 3-0 to a dominant Malawi, avoiding a repeat of the 6-1 defeat to the same rivals during last year’s edition of the competition.

Saturday’s improved result is down to a combination of playing on home soil and poor finishing by the dominant Malawians.

After holding their ground for 24 minutes, Baby Gladiators defender Uakatavisa Tjihiku scored an unfortunate own goal when the ball cannoned off the post and struck her to divert into the net.

The lively Ethel Tambala extended Malawi’s lead on 33 minutes and Faluna Umali ensured the three points were safe with a 90th minute strike.

Namibia head coach Errol Damaseb says the team did relatively well for a team that only assembled six days before the tournament kicked-off.

He says the defeat was down to losing concentration at key moments, rather than being poorly prepared.

“I would not say it [preparations] affected the performance of the girls. Like I previously said, preparations went well. We just lost focus in the critical moments of the game, conceding two set-pieces and then losing possession and conceding from transition,” Damased said in his post-match analysis.

“So, we will have to go back to the drawing board and fix those errors that cost us the match today, and then I think on Tuesday we will be ready for the next one.”

Namibia next face Comoros in the three-team group, with the latter due to have taken on Malawi yesterday.

Comoros are the weakest team in group A on paper and the hosts will fancy their chances against them.

Victory would keep Namibia’s semi-final hopes alive.

“I think we will create more opportunities to score. Pressure will always be there, but in this case as the coaches will have to deal with the pressure,” Damaseb said of the weight of expectation to not fall at the first hurdle as hosts.

“We don’t want to put a lot of pressure on the players as they are very young girls. So, we will make them relax and then we take on the next game and they play with confidence.

“As long as they play comfortably, I think we will be good to go.”

Meanwhile, holders Zambia opened their title defence campaign with a commanding 4-0 victory over Mozambique in Windhoek on Saturday.

Player of the match Ruth Mukoma scored twice, with Precious Mwape and Natasha Kasema also on target as the champions underlined threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the competition.

Mauritius are the other team in group B and will be in action against Mozambique today.

Group C got underway with Lesotho, last year’s beaten finalist, edging Botswana 1-0.

Botswana will also be in action today when they take on Zimbabwe.