Namibia 4

 

Aprocius Petrus (right; Liria Prizren | KOS)
vs. Tunisia (1:0) | AFCON | 2024 in Ivory Coast

To the surprise of everyone, Namibia somehow qualified for the 2024 AFCON in the Ivory Coast. The qualification campaign of the team was a bit unsuspected already. Kenya was banned by FIFA and thus removed from the qualification, leaving them in a group with Cameroon and Burundi - with two teams going through. Now Burundi surprisingly qualified for the previous AFCON, but it still gave Namibia a ridiculous chance to just topple them and make it through. While they were unable to beat Burundi (one loss, one draw), they did end up shocking Cameroon, beating them in a qualifier that was played in Johannesburg, rather than Namibia, for some reason. That saw them edging past Burundi and going to the Ivory Coast.

At the tournament itself, they started with another banger: They beat Tunisia in their opening match. Orlando Pirates star Dean Hotto netted with just minutes to go, giving them the first three points. They proceeded to get thrashed by South Africa, before a goalless draw against group favourites Mali. That was enough to get into the knockout stages for the first time ever - where they promptly lost against another neighbor: Angola.

During the tournament, the team wore shirts by the otherwise unknown manufacturer Vecchio. I have never heard of that company before and despite being just another wild and not very Namibian looking one, I had to get myself one. So I did just that, buying it for about 40€ at the time of the AFCON.