Brave Warriors held by Guinea

Namibia’s Brave Warriors and Equatorial Guinea played to a 1-1 draw yesterday in a 2026 World Cup CAF Group H qualifying match at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa. The result ensures that Namibia remains in pursuit of their World Cup qualifying dream even though they took just one point from yesterday’s match. Brave Warriors coach Colling Benjamin said the team started well in a match they were determined to win from the start."I think we started the match very well because we controlled the match in a sense that Guinea is a team that has players that play from the back."I think the topic of not playing (our home matches) at home is now redundant because if you look at today, we controlled the match. given that we are trying to make the best out of this situation,” Benjamin said. The Brave Warriors controlled much of the first half and showed great determination and class as they pushed for an opening goal. Peter Shalulile had one of the most promising chances of the first half, but his effort went wide after finding himself with the ball in the penalty box of Equatorial Guinea. Brave Warriors started the second half as they did in the first, pushing men forward and having great interchanging play. The Namibian team used its wingers well as they put the Guineans under pressure. The pressure eventually paid of after they were awarded a free kick on the left side of the pitch. Deon Hotto delivered the set-piece which was well met by talismanic skipper Peter Shalulile who slotted home from close range to break the deadlock 51 minutes into the match. The strike from Namibia’s all-time leading scorer forced Equatorial Guinea to come out of their shell in search of an equalizer.The Guineans started putting more passes together which put pressure on Namibia’s defence, forcing Joslin Kamatuka to commit a foul that proved costly for Namibia. Saul Costa pounced on Edward Maova’s attempted save from a free kick to level the scores just three minutes after Namibia had scored the opener. The rest of the match saw both teams seeking to create the winning goal, with Guinea growing in confidence and forcing Namibia to be on the back foot. Namibia themselves also had a couple of promising late attacks, but their efforts were well blocked by a resilient Guinea side and a goalkeeper who intercepted a few crucial runs. The best chance of the final minutes fell to Guinea’s star attacker Emilio Nsue (player of the tournament at Afcon 2024) who connected well with a cross just to struck the ball wide.Unbeaten recordThe result stretched Namibia’s unbeaten run to six matches, including the points they were awarded from their earlier 1-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea, which was later reversed after it was ruled they had used an ineligible player. Namibia remain in second place with 12 points, one behind log leaders Tunisia (who played late last night against Malawi) who still leads the table in a race to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. It is now the most points Namibia have ever managed in a World Cup qualification campaign, beating the preliminaries for the 2014 and 2022 finals, when they claimed 11 points in eight games. The four highest second-placed teams across the nine CAF groups will have a chance via the play-offs, and with a healthy points haul already, Namibia could be favourably placed to book one of those berths.The Brave Warriors have never qualified for the World Cup, but have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations four times.Namibia are at home for their next two qualifiers that will be played in September. They host Malawi and Sao Tome e Principe and will believe they can take six points from those fixtures to at the very least put themselves in a strong position for one of the best runner-up spots.They finish their campaign in October this year with a trip to Liberia and a potential group showdown away against Tunisia.Namibia are one of nine sides yet to lose in the qualifiers, placing themselves in good company with the likes of Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon, Morocco and Ivory Coast, with 53 African nations taking part. – jesse@nsh.com.na

Brave Warriors held by Guinea

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Republikein 2025-04-03

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Brave Warriors held by Guinea

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