‘England’ wins Namibian ‘world cup’

IT had been 43 years without major European or World honours, but on Saturday England put this dismal record firmly in the past with a resounding win over Spain in the world cup final in front of a noisy Namibian crowd.

Ok, ok, so it wasn’t really England and it wasn’t really Spain who fought out a five-goal thriller in the final of the OTB-WIS five-a-side tournament, but teams from St Paul’s and Ricardo Mannetti’s Football Academy who were representing these illustrious nations.
They were among the ten teams from institutions and organisations such as Windhoek International school, DHPS, Concordia, Windhoek High as well as the Mannetti Academy and the Orlindi Orphanage, who were representing Holland, Nigeria, Namibia, Ghana, France, Italy and Cameroon and battling for the OTB-WIS trophy on an indoor and outdoor pitch from 08h00 until 15h30 on Saturday.
Attracting sponsorship from Score, Nashua, Visions, and OTB, the tournament was a great success with 46 games taking place and 123 goals scored and only two yellow cards and one red card issued.
Next year it is hoped that the event will be broadened to include girls’ teams to help promote the NFA’s growing efforts to promote girls’ soccer from age 10-15.
Speaking at the post-final presentation, WIS Board member Dan Wellwood commented on the high level of skill and effort on display throughout the day from students from privileged and under-privileged backgrounds alike.
‘On the pitch everyone starts as equals, which is tremendous when you see players from places such as the Orlindi orphanage pitting their wits against the might of DHPS or St Paul’s… one kid has no shoes and shin pads, but he is trying just as hard as the kid with the new boots … which is just awesome and what this whole thing is about.’
In the final itself, the Mannetti Academy went ahead early before player of the tournament, Sydney Urikhob, pushed St Paul’s into a narrow half time lead.
England captain Conan Harris scored a fine individual goal and set up a third before Spain were put out of contention just as the final whistle blew.
However the dejection of some of his players was not matched by the mood of head coach Ricardo Mannetti, who was happy with how his team had performed on the day.
‘I started my academy two weeks ago and didn’t even imagine getting this far. It’s a great experience and let’s see how we get on next year!’
Indeed his confidence was matched by ‘England’ captain Conan Harris who, after picking up the OTB-WIS trophy, bravely stated that, ‘although a lot of our players are in year 12 at the moment, and due to leave at the end of the school year, we will come back and win this next year, and maybe we will get to keep the trophy for good.’
* Chris Buckland is a British journalist visiting Namibia.