Namibia winger Deon Hotto says they weren’t surprised by Bafana Bafana change of approach and opened up on the fiery contest against Khuliso Mudau.
Hotto, who was the star of the show in their historic 1-0 win over Tunisia on Tuesday was made to work against South Africa as they fell to a 4-0 defeat last night.
The result means the Brave Warriors dropped down to third, needing a win against Mali in the final game or potentially a draw to reach the last-16.
“Uh not really [they didn’t surprise us tactically] to be honest we knew when they made the two changes what to expect with [Thapelo] Morena and his pace,” Hotto told iDiski Times.
“They brought in Kekana so it was more like a back-four, it wasn’t a surprise for us – we knew how they were going to come, but credit to them, they got the result they wanted, but to us, it’s not the end of the world, we focus and regroup, we move forward.
“They also changed the formation with Mudau going higher [up the pitch] and Morena was higher also, so I had to be on the back foot, I had to help Riaan [Hanamub] also, I couldn’t just leave him alone, but it’s football…”
The Orlando Pirates utility man looked to have switched flanks during the game with Absalom Iimbondi which he denied was due to the impressive partnership of Maudau and Morena on the evening.
“No, no, never [I didn’t switch because I couldn’t get past [Mudau] I had to switch because they were going through our right side a lot – so I had to help the young boy [Ryan Nyambe] who was playing there, so I had to change,” he said.
“We have the confidence [to surprise Mali] that game is going to be the one that’s our fate you know, so we’re ready and yeah we need to go back group and keep our chins up. We’ll need a win and we’ll talk about that game on the 24th.”
Namibia will travel to San Pedro for their final group game to take on the West African side at Le Stade Laurent Pokou this Wednesday (19h00).
