It was a disappointing weekend for the three COSAFA sides competing in the 2018 African Nations Championship quarterfinals as all suffered defeats to be knocked out of the competition.

Namibia were beaten 2-0 by hosts Morocco in Casablanca, while Zambia were surprise 1-0 losers to Sudan in Marrakech.

Angola ran Nigeria close, taking the game to extra-time, but ended up with a 2-1 defeat in Tangier.

“It has been a very tough game. We have lost, the only thing that we did not do was score. We created so many chances but we did not score,” Zambia assistant coach Aggrey Chiyangi said.

“Playing against Sudan was always going to be difficult but I think the goodness is we created chances but did not just score.

“Our mission was to go beyond this stage but football being what it is, we have failed to go beyond this round. In football there are no failures, it is only that you fail to go to the next round, you only fail when you give up.

“This tournament is gone, we have learnt one or two things.”

Namibia coach Ricardo Mannetti admitted his team lost to the better side on the day.

“They showed their quality. They had the height, tactically good and the home crowd and combine all that and we had our backs against it from the start. We came here to upset them and it did not work in the end,” he said.

“Overall, we came here and worked ourselves out of group stage. Magnificent achievement to reach this stage. No one gave us a chance and we worked hard for it. I’m happy for the boys tonight and the whole tournament for The Brave Warriors and we go home proud.”