Namibia coach Samaria reveals reasons for early CHAN exit

Namibia coach Richard Bobby Samaria says a coronavirus outbreak in the team’s camp ahead of the TOTAL African Nations Championship (CHAN) contributed to the team’s early exit from the tournament in Cameroon.

The Brave Warriors were eliminated from the competition, exclusively for home-based players, on Saturday after losing 1-0 to Tanzania in their second Group D match in Limbe.

The result means Namibia have no points after two matches and cannot catch group leaders Guinea and Zambia even if they win their last group match against the latter on Wednesday.

Ten players from the team tested positive for the virus ahead of the tournament which led to the team breaking camp temporarily to halt the spread of the contagious disease.

Samaria says the outbreak of the deadly disease during their training camp in their home country contributed to their defeat as well as the poor finishing of his team.

“Our preparations that were hampered by 10 players testing positive for COVID-19 is evident by the kind of performance we have showed,” Samaria said following Namibia’s 1-0 defeat by Tanzania on Saturday.

“Today our downfall was that the team was not clinical and yet they created the scoring opportunities,” added the coach whose team must play their last match despite not having the chance of advancing to the next stage.

Namibia will play their final Group D game against Zambia at the Limbe Stadium on Wednesday before exiting the competition.