Photo: NFA
Namibia’s Young Warriors face an uphill battle to reach the quarterfinals of the TOTAL Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations after their 0-2 loss against Tunisia in Mauritania Thursday night.
Namibia, which is in Group B alongside Burkina Faso, the Central Africa Republic (CAR) and Tunisia, is currently lying third on the log standing level on one point with CAR, which is bottom of the group.
Goals in either half from Marc Martin Lamti and Hassan Ayari earned Tunisia their first win of the tournament and keeps them level on four points with Burkina Faso, who beat CAR 3-0.
With their first defeat at the competition, Namibia remains with just the single point picked up after match day one from their draw against CAR.
The Young Warriors paid the ultimate price for their missed chances in the first half and will now have to shoot from all cylinders when they face Burkina Faso in their last group games at the competition on Sunday, 21 February.
After the match, Namibia coach James Britz said he knew it would be difficult for Namibia when they took on Tunisia.
“We struggled in height because they have quite the physical presence and they were really good in set pieces. We were punished with our mistakes and we couldn’t come back from that,” said Britz, who stated that Tunisia analysed their team really well which prevented them from playing their own style of football.
The coach added that Tunisia knew all the time what move Namibia wanted to make but he is still hopeful they have a game in hand and they are not out of the competition as they will give it their all in the last match on Sunday.
Source: (NAMPA)
