Windhoek-Brave Warriors head coach Ricardo Mannetti has defended his decision to replace Wangu Gome in the African Nations Cup qualifiers match against Zambia on Saturday. It was a must-win scenario for both Zambia and Namibia to re-ignite their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations hopes, as they lost their first encounters against Mozambique and Guinea Bissau respectively. No goals were however recorded in the first half of the game, which forced the technical staff to make changes. In the 62th minute, Namibian mentor Ricardo Mannetti decided to pull out his number 10 player Wangu Gome and replaced him with Benson Shilongo, a move that was disapproved of by many football fans. However, Mannetti came out strongly, defending his decision of taking out the midfielder. “I don't know why they were angry, because after the replacement we scored. When you play home you want to win. Wangu had certain technical instructions and he is also very popular with the fans and with me as well, but sometimes I have to put popularity aside. We were looking to hurt Zambia in that space in front of the defence and Wangu was not going deep enough for me. Namibia scored in the 78th minute through Shilongo, while Chipolopolo equalised in injury time through Justin Shonga's deflection free kick.