End of the road as CHAN dream is buried
Football
Goalkeeper Tankiso Chaba was on the lucky side during the penalty shoot-out for the Lesotho football team as they narrowly eliminated Namibia’s Brave Warriors in the race to qualify for next year’s African Nations Championship.
Lesotho took a 1-0 aggregate lead into yesterday’s second-leg match at Bloemfontein’s Toyota Stadium, which still stood form after the goalless first half.
Eeshoke Chula Chula’s young Lawrence Doeseb struck a right-footed goal for Namibia two-and-a-half minutes after the restart, which raised the hopes of the national team coached by John Sikerete and
Midfielders Ngero Katua and substitute Paulus Amutenya put Doeseb into space as he accelerated away from the last defender, firing a low right-footed shot into the bottom right corner, before running towards the right corner flag kicking his heels against each other in celebration.
However, the aggregate 1-1 score stood until the final whistle, taking the match to penalties to decide which nation would be eliminated, while the winner progresses to face Angola in the last round of qualification before next year’s CHAN tournament co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
During the penalty shoot-out, Namibia’s goalkeeper and captain Ndisiro Kamaijanda (Arican Stars) managed to make one diving save, but the Brave Warriors were undone by missed attempts from replacement Godwin Eiseb and Charles Hambira (both African Stars). Eiseb sent his kick past the left-hand upright, while Hambira, as his team’s kicker number five, blasted his attempt over the cross-bar.
Lesotho won the penalty shoot-out 4-3 despite the Namibian penalty strikes by Willy Stephanus, Ngero Katua and Paulus Amutenya.
The disappointing result for Namibia means that they will not be present in February 2025’s next continental tournament for national teams comprised from each country’s domestic leagues.
The Namibians were seeking their third-ever CHAN qualification. Their last appearance was in Cameroon 2020, following their best showing of reaching the quarter-finals at Morocco 2018.
Lesotho took a 1-0 aggregate lead into yesterday’s second-leg match at Bloemfontein’s Toyota Stadium, which still stood form after the goalless first half.
Eeshoke Chula Chula’s young Lawrence Doeseb struck a right-footed goal for Namibia two-and-a-half minutes after the restart, which raised the hopes of the national team coached by John Sikerete and
Midfielders Ngero Katua and substitute Paulus Amutenya put Doeseb into space as he accelerated away from the last defender, firing a low right-footed shot into the bottom right corner, before running towards the right corner flag kicking his heels against each other in celebration.
However, the aggregate 1-1 score stood until the final whistle, taking the match to penalties to decide which nation would be eliminated, while the winner progresses to face Angola in the last round of qualification before next year’s CHAN tournament co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
During the penalty shoot-out, Namibia’s goalkeeper and captain Ndisiro Kamaijanda (Arican Stars) managed to make one diving save, but the Brave Warriors were undone by missed attempts from replacement Godwin Eiseb and Charles Hambira (both African Stars). Eiseb sent his kick past the left-hand upright, while Hambira, as his team’s kicker number five, blasted his attempt over the cross-bar.
Lesotho won the penalty shoot-out 4-3 despite the Namibian penalty strikes by Willy Stephanus, Ngero Katua and Paulus Amutenya.
The disappointing result for Namibia means that they will not be present in February 2025’s next continental tournament for national teams comprised from each country’s domestic leagues.
The Namibians were seeking their third-ever CHAN qualification. Their last appearance was in Cameroon 2020, following their best showing of reaching the quarter-finals at Morocco 2018.
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