Birds to fly into Stars

FOR the ones who remain behind in Windhoek, the match between African Stars and Blue Waters at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday is expected to liven up the sombre spirit that currently hangs in the air after the death of referee Matthew ‘Cafu’ Katjimune.

The match is set for 19h00 and ardent Stars supporters who wish to attend the funeral of the popular referee can still be back in time for the clash which will see Bobby Samaria’s men frustrate Blue Waters in the MTC Premiership. Stars go into the match as favourites and their chief tactician, Quinton ‘Querra’ Jacobs, will be the man to watch as he has the responsibility of steering his side to victory.Jacobs, who scooped the Man of the Match award ion their 1-0 loss against Zambia in the Cosafa Cup a few weeks ago, will be under pressure to lead his charges as Stars supporters will want nothing less than a win.Stars drew their last match 1-all against Ramblers and will aim at putting at putting a stop at the free-scoring Blue Waters side which narrowly lost 3-2 to Orlando Pirates in their last match on the Astor-turf in Windhoek.It will be business as usual for Lucky Shipanga’s men when they travel to Windhoek in one of their toughest assignments for the season and a draw will do them good to maintain a good record which show one loss and five wins.The Birds, as Blue Waters is also known, topped the standings with a point ahead of last night’s match between Orlando Pirates and Hotspurs and would want to upset Stars to remain in the top three bracket by the end of the weekend matches.OVERPOWER Blue Waters will be overpowered in two respects tomorrow, firstly by the intimidating Stars supporters who seem to come in numbers only when their side is in action, while they will have to quickly find their feet on the fast-paced artificial turf which the Stars players have mastered so well. Blue Waters will be playing only their second match on that turf and should if they fail to contain the ‘Red Machine’, especially in midfield where Jacobs and Ninja Karongee are stirring up matters, they will find themselves in all sorts of trouble.Stars should however not be surprised to find it difficult to break the Blue Waters defence as the likes of Gottlieb Nakuta and Fischer Kalimba are set to close the gates to their goals in the encounter.It will be crucial for Stars to dominate the midfield and find quick goals as they struggle with an outright striker, while the Birds have the duty of closing down the hard-running winger Edison Muheua and the exciting youngster Ikuaterua Tjozongoro.Yesterday, league authorities announced that the match between Ramblers and United Stars will be played at the Ramblers Stadium instead of the SKW Stadium as was announced earlier. The match starts at 16h00.Tonight, Civics meet their cross-town rivals SKW in what could turn out an exciting affair at the SKW Stadium at 20h00.The in-form Tigers of Brian Isaacs travel to Walvis Bay to challenge Ronnie Kanalelo’s Eleven Arrows at the Atlantis Stadium at 16h00, while Black Africa go to the Uukwangulu Stadium in Embandu to take on Oshakati City. corry@namibian.com.na