NAMIBIA coach, Manetti Ricardo says he is relived by his team's nervy win over Mauritius during yesterday's opening match of the 2013 Confederations of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) Senior Challenge Cup.
Ricardo said the win had taken a lot pressure off his shoulders and puts Namibia in a good position to advance from the group while Mauritius coach, Akbar Patel bemoaned his team's poor display in the first half.
Namibia were leading the game 2-0 until five minutes to full time when Mauritius who drew support from the growing cheering crowd in the second half and were rewarded with an 85th minute goal from Jean Pierre.
It took man-of-the-match Petrus Shitembi, wearing jersey 19, 19 minutes to break the goalless deadlock courtesy of an expertly taken free-kick following a foul on Ananias Gebhardt outside the box to beat Joe Ivahn in the Mauritius goal.
Namibia could have doubled their advantage but Sadney Urikhob shot wide from inside the box in the 22nd minute before Larry Horaeb followed suit with another poor shot inside the box as play was briefly stopped to allow Ivahn to receive medical attention having failed to recover from his accidental collision with the goal post earlier.
With the game heading for the break, Pinehas Jakob showed great skill by unleashing a powerful strike outside the box to beat Ivahn in goal and gave Namibia a comfortable lead going into the break.
But the second half saw the Namibians going to sleep with Mauritius growing in confidence, making most of the attacks as the crowd started cheering their every move and were rewarded when Pierre scored five minutes to full time.
Pierre struck a free-kick past Namibia goalkeeper Virgill Vries after a foul on Menzy Angelo and Mauritius could have levelled matters on 90 minutes but Louis Desire could only manage to shot the ball wide.
Namibia had a chance to kill off the game, but Neville Tijueza, after dribbling past the goalkeeper and defenders, shockingly failed to find the back of the net opting to hit the side netting.
In the post match interview, Richardo said he was a relived man when he heard the final whistle go as Namibia were given a good run by Mauritius in the dying minutes of the game.
"Well done Mauritius for giving us a good game; this victory has indeed removed a lot of pressure off my shoulders. As I said, the winner of today's match will have a good chance of advancing to the next stage," said Ricardo, who teasingly said he was not happy with the Zambian fans support towards Mauritius.
He vowed to work on the striking problems that saw his team going to sleep after taking a 2-0 lead, saying Namibia need to learn to perfect the art of scoring by being clinical in-front of goal.
Patel said his team should learn to play the ball for 90 minutes unlike enjoying possession only in one half.
"In the first half we didn't play good football and we did well in the second half but we need to play the ball in both halves if we are to start winning matches," he said.
He also paid tribute to Mauritius for giving his side a good but tough match saying Namibia went to sleep after scoring the two goals which he said was not supposed to have been the case.
Namibia can clinch qualification to the quarterfinals with a win over Seychelles tomorrow at Nkoloma starting at 14:30 hours.
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