Namibia’s Afcon hopes hanging by a thread 

Namibia’s Brave Warriors take on Zimbabwe in their return Afcon qualifying fixture in Johannesburg tonight still rooted to the bottom of the log, with their hopes of reaching the 2025 Afcon final in Morocco now hanging by a thread. 

Following their 1-0 defeat to Zimbabwe last Thursday, Namibia are now on zero points halfway through their campaign, and memories of their amazing run at the 2023 Afcon finals in the Ivory Coast at the beginning of the year now seem a lifetime away. 

With three matches remaining in their Afcon qualifying campaign they still have a mathematical chance of finishing amongst the top two teams in Group J to reach the finals next year, but it is highly unlikely. 

Cameroon, who thumped Kenya 4-1 on Friday, are on top of the log on seven points, with Zimbabwe now second on five and Kenya third on four points. 

Namibia certainly have the potential to beat Zimbabwe, and in fact lead them 7-6 in head-to-head matches, while they also have a higher Fifa ranking at 105 compared to 124. 

In their first encounter against Zimbabwe on Thursday they also had more chances, with 19 shot attempts compared to Zimbabwe’s 12, while they had more possession with 56 percent compared to 44. 

But, as has become a refrain now in recent matches, they could not capitalise on their chances, and Zimbabwe grabbed all three points when they won a 34th minute penalty after a foul by Kennedy Amutenya and veteran striker Khama Billiat scored from the spot. 

Namibia had several chances to score, with Prins Tjiueza the most threatening – one of his efforts hit the post and another two were saved, while an Ivan Kamberipa header was also well saved by Zimbabwe’s keeper Washington Arubi. 

Namibia coach Collin Benjamin lamented their lost opportunities.

“We created the chances – I counted something like nine chances that we didnt put in and in the first half, before the penalty, we had three clear chances from set pieces. But in the end I’m sitting here with my team on zero points and zero goals. That hurts, especially knowing that you were the better team,” he said at the post-match press conference. 

“It’s a hard pill to swallow, in the sense that you’re not scoring the goals, you’re creating the chances, but you are basically given a lesson in international soccer – if you don’t take your chances, somebody else will,” he added.

Benjamin, however, remained positive.

“As a coach, you’re sitting there on the touchline and you see that you’re creating the chances, so for me the team is alive, and it’s just to get over the line that is not happening. But do we put our heads in the sand and say, no,  we’re not playing here anymore? No, we have to stand up, this is football and this is maybe what is expected from us to take the next step up,” he said. 

“We will analyse the game to see where we were not that good, what we did good and what we can do better, and work out a strategy on how we can come back and take three points from Zimbabwe on Monday,” he added.