• Football

Resilient Gladiators slip against South Africa in Cosafa opener

• 11 Hours Ago

Defending champions South Africa secured a narrow 1-0 victory over a resilient Namibia in the opening match of the HollywoodBets Cosafa Women’s Football Championship in Gqeberha yesterday evening.

The highly competitive encounter saw both sides creating opportunities, but it was substitute Tshogofatso Motlogelwa who made the difference with a late goal in the 83rd minute.

Namibia came closest to scoring in the 82nd minute when Zenatha Coleman threaded a brilliant pass to the speedy Ivone Kooper, whose shot bounced agonisingly off the left post. The missed chance proved costly as South Africa responded almost immediately. Motlogelwa struck from outside the box, calmly placing the ball past the retreating Namibian goalkeeper Melissa Matheus to break the deadlock.

In a physical battle, South Africa (18) recorded double the amount of fouls of their opponents. Banyana Banyana managed 13 attempts at goal agains the five by Namibia.

South Africa’s Isabella Ludwig, named player of the match, praised her team's resilience: “It was nice to get the three points in the opening match. The game was tough; they were quick, and we had to push hard to contain them.”

Namibian head coach Woody Jacobs reflected on the match, noting their challenges: “We struggled in the first half; as South Africa were all over us. We also didn’t manage the second half the way we wanted too.

“The pitch surface was slippery, which made it difficult, and we were unlucky not to score. We hit the post, and they scored right after. A draw would have been a fair result, but congratulations to the energetic young South African team that played well and really put their hands up.

“They never allowed us to get into our groove. We didn’t get into scoring positions as much as we would have liked.”

Namibia also suffered a blow when defender and former team captain Emma Naris limped off shortly after 64 minutes. Jacobs said: “We’ll analyse and see how she is, hopefully it’s nothing too serious, because she is quite a vital player for us.”

South African coach Maude Khumalo acknowledged the physicality of the Brave Gladiators. “Namibia is a strong, physical team, so it was a tough game. They played long balls, and we had to work hard to contain them. I’m proud of the way we handled it.”

Namibia, aiming to maximise its results from a fairly experienced squad at this tournament, will now need to regroup for their next game against Seychelles on Friday (12:00 at Wolfson Stadium) as they aim to secure vital points in the group.

Their final pool match against Eswatini will be at 15:00 on Monday.



Eswatini leads the group

In the other Group A opener earlier yesterday, Eswatini dominated Seychelles with a commanding 6-0 victory, with Sandiswa Ngcamphalala claiming the player of the match award.

With seven goals across two matches, Group A has kicked off in thrilling fashion, setting the tone for what promises to be an exciting tournament.



Stadium changes

Due to water damage caused by recent heavy rains in Nelson Mandela Bay, there has been a change of venues for the Cosafa Women’s Championship 2024 matches in the coming days.

The tournament got under way yesterday with clashes at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, but plans to move to the Gelvandale Stadium from Wednesday have been shelved due to extensive water damage.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is unavailable having been pre-booked for other events.

Instead, the matches will be played as follows:

* Fixtures from October 23-25 will now take place at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium.

* Fixtures from October 26-29 will take place at the Madibaz Stadium at the Nelson Mandela University. The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will be used as an alternate venue for the simultaneous kick-offs in Group A and Group B on October 28.

* The semifinals (October 31) and final (November 2) will be played at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium as planned.