{"id":2506,"date":"2021-01-21T11:46:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T11:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=2506"},"modified":"2021-01-21T11:46:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T11:46:49","slug":"brave-warriors-snatch-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2021\/01\/21\/brave-warriors-snatch-draw\/","title":{"rendered":"Brave Warriors Snatch Draw"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar in Rustenburg \u00a9 Satish Sekar (October 8th<\/sup> 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Draw<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Richard \u2018Bobby\u2019 Samaria\u2019s Namibia came from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw against Molefi Ntseki\u2019s Bafana Bafana. Braga\u2019s Luther Singh gave South Africa a deserved lead after 18 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamelodi Sundowns\u2019 Kermit Erasmus was allowed far too much space on the right of the area. He squared it to Singh who stroked it in to give South Africa a deserved lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defending, however, was shambolic. Namibia\u2019s Brave Warriors equalised after 55 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long ball down the right by Black Africa SC\u2019s Dynamo Fredericks found Absalom Iimbondi with an eye on goal. The Tigers United striker brushed aside a weak challenge and fired past stand-in captain, Supersport United\u2019s Ronwen Williams at his near post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both coaches will need to work on their defences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Early Advantage<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

South Africa began the brighter. Luther Singh shook of any jetlag with an impressive first half performance. He set up Kermit Erasmus, whose shot was saved by Moroka Swallows\u2019 Virgil Vries at the expense of a corner after 7 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The corner was wasted. Four minutes later a professional foul was rightly punished by Zimbabwean referee, Norman Matemera, with a yellow card for Sundowns\u2019 Mothobi Mvala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thibang Phete\u2019s profuse apologies persuaded Matemera not to show a card for a foul that deserved one, and shortly afterwards, he headed over from a corner won by Erasmus and Singh combining well again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite having the better of the half, chances were few and far between. Singh had an opportunity as half time approached but failed to deliver. And at the other end Namibia\u2019s captain on the night, Peter Shalulie, wasted a good chance to equalise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shalulie and the absent Deon Hotto have both recently secured moves to bigger clubs in South Africa\u2019s PSL (Premier Soccer League). Shalulie joined Mamelodi Sundowns and Hotto now plays for Orlando Pirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Changes Rung In<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ten minutes into the second half Iimbondi equalised. Victoria Guimares\u2019 Lyle Foster failed to restore the Bafana Bafana\u2019s lead from close range a couple of minutes later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spate of substitutions disrupted the tempo \u2013 an oft-used \u2018explanation\u2019 in friendlies. African Stars\u2019 Alfeus Handura\u2019s last contribution was to pick up a yellow card for clattering into Singh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tougher Test?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was disappointing for South Africa, but it was preparation. The big test in this window was yet to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desite new management, Zambia has a lot to do. The Chiolopolo has missed the last two AFCON Finals and lost the first two qualification matches for AFCON 2021, having conceded 7 and scored just 1. Milutin Sredojevi\u0107 has a very tough task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His local charges are preparing for the African Championship (CHAN), scheduled to be held in Cameroon early next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collins Sikombe scored the winner for the local-based Chipolopolo last Wednesday against Malawi. They face Kenya tomorrow and the Bafana Bafana on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar in Rustenburg \u00a9 Satish Sekar (October 8th 2020) Draw Richard \u2018Bobby\u2019 Samaria\u2019s Namibia came from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw against Molefi [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2507,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506\/revisions\/2507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}