Warriors' Cosafa agony

WINDHOEK HECTOR MAWONGA

Mozambique will tomorrow play in the final of the losers' section of the Cosafa Cup after beating Namibia 1-0 in Ndola, Zambia, yesterday.
The Brave Warriors coach, Ricardo Mannetti, made four changes to the side that played against South Africa in the quarter-finals of the main competition on Saturday.
These changes included goalkeeper Virgil Vries, who was dropped to the bench, while Chris Katjiukua and Willy Stephanus came in for Willem Mwedihanga and Petrus Shitembi, who both returned to their respective South African clubs.
Roger Katjiteo replaced Sadney Urikhob in the striking position.
Playing with what appeared to be a 4-4-2 formation, the Brave Warriors once again started quite well and dominated ball possession with the best chance in the first half falling to Stephanus, who saw his thunderous shot bouncing off the crossbar.
From the rebound, Stephanus set Katjiteo up for a clear chance at goal but the striker failed to hit the target.
Stephanus then had another shot at goal, which was saved by the Mozambican goalkeeper Soares Soares, before Katjiukua sent a free header from a corner wide.
Namibia was left to rue that missed chance as the Mozambicans started growing in confidence and eventually found the back of the net thanks to Apsone Manjare, who netted with a header from a right wing cross.
With the scores 1-0 at halftime, the Mozambicans picked up where they left off by carving out the first opening of the half as Tjihonge was forced into making a save after Freedom Puriza was easily beaten on the left.
The Brave Warriors were then dealt a heavy blow when Pineas Jacob was sent off after picking up a second yellow card.
Despite the setback, Namibia tried to regain control of the game, with Mannetti making a double substitution, introducing Deon Hotto and Sadney Urikhob for Puriza and Ananias Gebhardt respectively in the 60th minute.
But despite creating a few half chances, the move proved futile, with Mozambique defending their lead to progress to the final of the plate competition, where they'll play Angola, who earlier beat Malawi 3-2 in the other semi-final.