In a thrilling encounter at the Brazzaville Stade-Alphonse Massamba Debat, Namibia’s U20 national football team faced a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of Congo Brazzaville, in the first leg of the FIFA U20 World Cup qualifiers.
The action-packed game kicked off with a goal by Namibia’s Albertine Fillipus in the 19th minute, however, Congo Brazzaville responded as Rutha Tokassi found the back of the net just eight minutes later, leveling the score at 1-1.
Pauline Mbayo netted another goal, giving Congo Brazzaville a 2-1 lead that they managed to maintain until the final whistle.
Following the closely contested match, Coach Errol Damaseb acknowledged the competitive spirit displayed by both teams and expressed optimism for the return leg.
“It was a tough match, our players fought hard and we came close to securing a better result, but luck wasn’t on our side. We will return to the drawing board and use this experience to regroup and prepare for the second leg.” Damaseb said.
Damaseb further added that the defeat could have been prevented by saying “We got too excited after the first goal, lost focus and made silly mistakes that eventually cost us. This does not change anything, we are sticking to our plan of advancing to the next stage of the FIFA U20 World Cup Qualifiers ”
The U20 will take on Congo Brazzaville on the 13th October 2023, at the Brazzaville Stade-Alphonse Massamba Debat in Congo, at 15:30.