Namibia’s Brave Warriors took a step in the right direction in their quest to qualify for the 2021 African Cup of Nations, when they beat Chad by two goals to one at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek on Wednesday. The match was group A’s first of the 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifiers. The Brave Warriors took on Chad for the third time ever, with one victory from the previous two meetings. Denzil Hoeseb, who started in midfield, found Deon Hotto with a beautiful long range ball but the Bidvest Wits winger missed a sitter. Charles Nyambe, who made his home debut also should have put the home side in front, but his header went wide. The visitors grew as the game progressed and dominated closing stages of the first half, but Warrior’s goalkeeper Loydt Kazapua came to his team’s rescue. In the second half, the Warriors opened the scoring after Peter Shalulile’s shot was stopped by the upright, before bouncing against the goalkeeper and hitting the back of the net. The goal would eventually be recorded as an own goal by Chad goalkeeper Dillah Mbairamadji, but it was enough to give Samaria’s team the lead. Two minutes later Chad captain Ezechiel Ndouasel benefited from a corner kick to put his side back on level terms. The Warriors’ strikers were miss-firing and Black Leopard’s defender Chris Katjiukua had to help out his team with 14 minutes of the match remaining. Katjiukua’s second goal in his Warriors’ career was enough to hand Namibia the much-needed victory. The victory put the Brave Warriors on top of the group, with Chad taking the last spot. In the same group Mali will host Guinea in Bamako on Thursday , before Namibia pays Guinea a visit on Sunday, with Chad hosting Mali on the same day.