The Assistant Coach of the Zambezi Region, Lennox Musiyalike, said the pressure of being the host has affected his team's performance as they failed to make it to the knock-out stages of The Namibian Newspaper Cup, which is taking place in Katima Mulilo. With the popular The Namibian Newspaper Cup being held in the Zambezi region for the first time, it was always going to be a tough assignment for the host to not only entertain their fans but to at least make it to the knock-out stages of the tournament. Having been paired in the same group with Erongo and Omaheke who were both previous winners of this tournament Zamezi had the added pressure to perform in their opening match against 2012 winners Erongo. It was Erongo who opened their account in the first half and went into half time with a 1-0 lead. In the second half with the host looking for the equliser, Erongo helped themsleves with the second goal of the match to make it two goals to nil in the second half. Not to be embarassed by the former champions Zambezi got their name on the score sheet to make it two goals to one, but that was not enough as Erongo held out for a win. On Saturday the host opened proceedings with a match against Omusati who also lost to the Omaheke Region yesterday by two goals to one. Zambezi needed to win today if they were to take any chance to make it to the knock out stages and with the match ending goalless at half time both teams needed to up the tempo in the second half and look for the winning goal. In the end it was Omusati who took their chance and scored the only goal of the match to all but eliminate the host. The Assistant Coach admitted that as hosts they failed their fans and now they need to look at the future and build a team that can compete next year. The tournament continues on Sunday with the semi finals and the final on Monday.