Namibia holds South Africa to a draw in international friendly

A man-of-the-match performance by the national senior football team “Brave Warriors” goalkeeper Lloyd Kazapua was all the Namibian team needed to hold their South African counterparts to a goalless draw on Saturday afternoon.

Namibia and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana clashed in an international friendly match at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa.

The Namibian team failed to capitalise from three clear chances created in the first half but made life difficult for their opponents who struggled to find an attacking rhythm through the course of the match.

The Brave Warriors started the match brightly and had a great chance to claim the lead as early as the third minute through Bethuel Muzeu who skipped through the defence, only to drag his shot from the right of the penalty area wide of the target.

Kazapua was called to action in the sixth minute when South Africa’s Lyle Foster threatened down the left wing and picked out Bathusi Aubaas, who could not outclass Kazapua on the day.

In the second half of the match, Bafana Bafana started finding combinations but were unable to capitalise on their dominance in that half.

The Namibia goalkeeper was in action throughout the game as he kept his team in the game with numerous saves as Bafana Bafana tried to find the back of the net throughout the second half.

In the 89th minute, Bafana almost opened the scoring through a free kick but Kazapua was equally to the task as he kept the goal away.

In an interview after the match national team coach Collin Benjamin said these type of friendly matches are good for the development of players.

“Today, we missed some of our key players, but the opportunity was given to the young ones to step up and show what they can do. I am happy with the dedication which they showed despite them not scoring a goal as that comes with experience and several international games on their belts,” he said.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency