Woeful Warriors lose again

Sport
THE Warriors suffered their second defeat in three days when they went down 3-1 to Namibia in an international friendly dubbed the Dr Hage Geingob Cup, at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek yesterday.

THE Warriors suffered their second defeat in three days when they went down 3-1 to Namibia in an international friendly dubbed the Dr Hage Geingob Cup, at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek yesterday.

BY SPORTS REPORTER Namibia ….. (3) 3 Zimbabwe… (1) 1

It was the Warriors’ second successive loss after their 1-0 defeat to Lesotho in another international friendly in Maseru on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe, who were under the tutelage of Wilson Mutekede — the team’s third interim coach in a space of seven months — conceded three first-half goals through a brace by midfielder Hendrick Somaeb and striker Peter Shalulile.

Somaeb, who plays for Jomo Cosmos in South Africa, had opened the scoring in the 15th minute before Shalulile doubled the lead three minutes later and Warriors captain Tendai Ndoro pulled one back from the penalty spot eight minutes before the halftime break.

However, any hopes of a comeback were squashed when Somaeb completed his brace four minutes later.

It was a disappointing homecoming for the four United Kingdom-based players — Tendai Darikwa (Nottingham Forest), Macauley Bonne (Leyton Orient), Admiral Muskwe (Leicester City U-23) and Kundai Benyu (Celtic) — who retraced their origins to feature for the Warriors for the first in this international break.

Zimbabwe were using the two friendlies against Lesotho and Namibia to prepare for next year’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group G qualifiers, which resume in March next year with a trip to Congo.