Senior national football team coach Collin Benjamin has said inexperience and lack of match fitness played a role in the Young Warriors’ defeat to Angola on Wednesday.
The Under-23 national team is currently in Luanda, Angola where they are competing for a spot in the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations that will be held in Morocco in 2023.
In the match that took place at the 11 de Novembro Stadium in Luanda Wednesday, the Young Warriors opened the scoring in the 59th minute through Gonzales Tsuseb, but the host nation came from behind to win the match 1-2.
In an interview shared by the Namibia Football Association with the media after the match, coach Benjamin said they found it hard to settle in the match against an Angolan outfit that was a technically good team.
“I still think we had a chance when we went into the lead, but the inexperience and match fitness got into play and it was a bit of a disadvantage for us,” he said, adding that credit should be given to their goalkeeper who did very well despite their opponents having an edge over them at the end of the match.
The coach also stated that playing both their matches away from home will not disadvantage the U-23 team.
“We will go back to the drawing board to see where to rectify. As the saying goes, the strength of a crocodile lies in the river but we are not in our river, and these are circumstances we are in but we are going to take the game to them. What we need is a little bit more guts and energy, and the mentality has to be right,” Benjamin said.
Namibia’s return match against Angola will take place at the same stadium on Saturday.
The Young Warriors will be hoping to edge their opponents to reach the next qualifying round that will be held next year.