African Stars respond like champions 

African Stars responded like champions to beat fellow title challengers Mighty Gunners 1-0 on Friday and reignite their hunt for a fourth successive league title. 

After the departure of former coach Bob Mafoso, Stars crashed to a 1-0 defeat to Rundu Chiefs a week ago which saw them being overtaken by Eeshoke Chula Chula at the top of the log, while Gunners were lurking just one point behind Stars in third place. 

Friday’s match had a lot at stake with both teams in the title hunt, and the match swung further into Gunners’ favour when Star’ forward Edmar Kamatuka was sent off for a foul just before halftime. 

Stars, however, responded magnificently after the break, with their prodigal son Awilo Stephanus once again in the thick of things. 

He had already tested Gunners’ defence with some probing runs, while a cracking long range freekick was just saved by a diving Tomwell Damaseb. 

Stars’ pressure paid off when they won a penalty for a handball in the 60th minute and Stephanus made no mistake from the spot, sending Damaseb the wrong way to put them ahead. 

Despite being a man down Stars continued to set the pace, with Wendell Rudath coming close to scoring from a volley, as they held on for an important win in the title race. 

Afterwards, Stars’ new coach Agnus Elemu said his team showed true character. 

“Glory to God,  we thank the Lord so much. When you play a team like Mighty Gunners it tests the character of the players, and to come out winners when you are one man down is not easy,” he said. 

“I think the boys showed their character and when we went into the halftime break we strategised how we are going to approach them in the second half. The players executed the instructions perfectly and we managed to get the three points that we needed,” he added. 

Elemu said it was a very important win in the title race. 

“It’s very important because I would say Mighty Gunners have been a bogey team to African Stars in the past and beating them with one man down was a big motivation for the boys. We dont want to look at what the other teams are doing, we just want to do the job in every game that we are playing, we want to do ourselves justice, and then we’ll see what happens at the end of the season,” he said. 

Stephanus chasing history 

Stephanus, meanwhile, said the players were determined to respond positively after their Rundu Chiefs defeat. 

“Coming out of a loss against Rundu Chiefs last weekend we as the boys had our own meeting and we told ourselves we need to go out with guns blazing because Mighty Gunners were right up there at the top of the log with us, so if we could beat them it would open up a gap for us, while also keeping an eye on Eeshoke Chula Chula who were above us. So we did our job and now the pressure is on them,” he said. 

“Unfortunately we got a red card in the first half but at half time the coach told us we have to fight for the young boy so we were all fighting for Edmar Kamatuka,” he added. 

Stephanus only recently returned from Saudi Arabia where he played for second division side Hetten FC, and immediately made an impact since his return, scoring three goals and two assists.

He said he hopes to return to Hetten soon. 

“It was a great experience playing in the Middle East. It was just unfortunate that I had to come back because the new coach brought in another foreign player so they dropped me, but I was doing well with six goals and eight assists in 16 matches, and when I left the team they were in fourth position. I opened up some doors for myself on that side, and hopefully, God willing, I can go back before the next season starts,” he said. 

Regarding the Namibian title race, Stephanus is in a unique position as he is now chasing his second four-peat title run after winning four titles with Black Afreca from 2011 to 2014. Stars are now chasing their fourth successive title and if they succeed, the evergreen Stephanus will once again make history. 

He said they have the squad to do it. 

“Yes, I think we have a good squad – most of the guys who won over the past three seasons are still with us, so we have a good squad and the coach is doing a good job behind the scenes and especially at training, so I think we can go for the fourth title,” he said. 

He said he had learnt a lot from Mafoso. 

“From my side, I still wanted to work with him because although I have been around for some time, I learned a lot of new things from him. His departure did affect the players, but as senior players we spoke to the young ones and told them that coaches come and go – this is what football is all about. Plus he left us with a good technical team with coach Agnus and in a good position on the log table, so if we work hard I think we stand a good chance to equal Black Africa’s record,” he said. 

Stephanus also made an interesting observation when comparing the Black Africa squad to the current African Stars squad.

“Honestly – we had much more competition amongst the teams back then,” he said. 

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