Warriors bow out with heads held high

Namibia’s Brave Warriors bowed out of the 2025 Cosafa Cup tournament with pride after beating Lesotho 3-0 in their last group match in Bloemfontein on Tuesday evening.

The result may have been flattering, but was not enough to help the team qualify to the next round of the competition.

Mighty Gunners defender Sisqo Haraseb gave the Namibians the lead seven minutes into the match, to give fans some sort of hope in their team's quest to reach another semi-final.

The Namibians knew that a win by one goal would not be enough and they would still have to rely on the other Group B match outcome between Angola and Malawi.

This however not deter the Brave Warriors from pushing men forward in the second half, scoring two penalties in the process.

Bethuel Muzeu converted the first penalty 16 minutes from time, before Joslin Kamatuka sealed the victory with a well-taken penalty eight minutes before the end of normal time.

Unbeaten Angola however was the only team from the group to qualify to the semifinals after beating Malawi 1-0 in the other group match.

Angola finished top of the group with 7 points, while Namibia was placed second with 5 points, with Lesotho third on 3 points and Malawi fourth with 2 points.

Coach Collin Benjamin said: “I'm particularly proud that we could give debuts to seven players, so that we can widen the pool of players that we can choose from uh in Namibia uh we gave a debut to a 19-year-old that played today.

“We had good opponents in these three matches and there's definitely a growth that happened in terms of of player development. If I look at a player like Sergio Sergio Damas that for the first time now played in defensive midfield and the power the strength that he showed that is really commendable.

“Sisqo Haraseb, that we're trying to get into the fold, was solid, but we need to see what is the next step for him. Those are the things that we want to take with into the competitive games that's waiting for us in September.”