Namibia have eased into the second round of qualifiers for the 2026 TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) finals after a 1-0 victory over fellow Cosafa side Eswatini at the Dobsonville Stadium in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The win sees Namibia advance 4-0 on aggregate after they had claimed the first leg in Eswatini 3-0 last week.
The fixture was played in honour of the late former Namibia President Dr Sam Nujoma, who passed away at the age of 95 earlier this month and will be laid to rest on Saturday.
Namibia now advance to face Zambia in the next round, which will be for a place in the 2026 Wafcon finals.
Zambia, who appeared at the last Fifa Women’s World Cup, will present a mighty challenge for coach Woody Jacobs and his side. But one they will relish.
The next stage of the qualifiers is scheduled to take place in October 2025, with Morocco to host the 12-team finals competition, tentatively slated for March 2026.
Namibia were dominant in the first leg against Eswatini, and while they found the going tougher this time round, never looked in trouble in the tie.
They took the lead in the second leg just past the half-hour mark when midfielder Juliana Blou saw her shot from the edge of the box deflected into the back of the net.
Eswatini did threaten after that and Namibia goalkeeper Melissa Matheus saved superbly from Eswatini’s Lindiwe Dlamini, with the 18-year-old’s fierce shot looking to be arrowing into the top corner.
Fiola Vliete fired wide for Namibia late in the first half, while they had several other opportunities in the second period but could not add to the scoreline.
The win was achieved without several key players, including star midfielder Zenatha Coleman, which will have added extra gloss to the result.
Namibia have made a single continental finals appearance before when they played host in 2014, beating Zambia 2-0 but exiting in the first round after losses to Nigeria and Ivory Coast. – cosafa.com
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