How Pitso Mosimane inspired Deon Hotto and Namibia to a historic victory at the AFCON

Hotto scored a stunning late winner with a powerful header against Tunisia in the first Group E game at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Khorogo, north of Côte d’Ivoire last night.

In this 34th edition of the AFCON, the underdog has really shown that it can bite and Hotto has mentioned Mosimane’s words that encouraged him.

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"Namibia, it shows that if you just put in the hard work, it will pay off. There's a tweet that I read from coach Pitso Mosimane on Sunday he said "Football is a game of tactics, organisations and professionalism and hard work, if you have those three things, it's difficult to beat a team that has that,” Hotto said.

“Today we fought together, we ran together, we moved as a team and there were moments where we were shaken but we kept our heads cool. It's just a stepping stone, there's still greater things for us as a country."

In Namibia’s four appearances at the AFCON since 1998, it was the first time they managed to win at the AFCON, and the Brave Warriors’ former player Colin Benjamin had been building the team for this achievement.

Benjamin says the importance of this result goes beyond football.

"This is huge, it's huge for Namibia. Namibia's always been getting beatings, us as a country get beatings economically, politically and in a lot of spears. So, these Brave Warriors today brought some restoration, it's nation building, it's pride and this is for every Namibian wherever they find themselves in this wild world of ours. It's for them and it's a huge thing,” Benjamin said.