Otjozondjupa confident of success

Otjozondjupa is one of the most successful teams at the Nedbank Namibia Newspaper Cup and they are confident of adding more silverware to their collection at this year’s edition at Keetmanshoop.

Otjozondjupa have won the title three times, and are only behind Khomas and Omaheke on the all-time winners’ list, who both have four victories.

They won the title in 2005, 2013 and 2017 but in recent years, their best performance came in 2023 when they finished runners-up to Kavango West.

Last year Otjozondjupa made it to the knockout stages after finishing second behind Kavango West in their group, but they were knocked out in the quarter-finals, going down 2-0 to ||Kharas.

Despite having quite a young team this year, with very few players remaining from last year, team manager Donovan Tjombe says they have high hopes with a strong technical team.

“I think we stand a good chance to win the cup because we brought in an experienced coach in Augustinus Mukoya, the former Brave Warriors striker, and he’s got a good techinal team. Another former Brave Warriors player, Maximilian Mbaeva, is the goalkeeping coach, so we are very confident that we can take it this year.

“Otjozondjupa is a very wide region, so we have a lot of talent here. We used the Governor’s Cup as our trials to select our preliminary squad about two weeks ago, and there was a lot of talent on display there as well and we expect a lot of good things from this team,” he adds.

Tjombe says they will hold two trial matches at Otjiwarongo on Saturday, which will also form part of Namibia’s independence celebrations, before they select their final squad of 20 players.

Very few players from last year’s squad remain, but Tjombe says they still have enough experience.

“Theres maybe just about 10% left from the previous squad from last year, but the players we have selected now still have a lot of experience, since they are playing for their clubs in the region,” he says.

“I’d say our goalkeeper Giovanni Tsandib is our key player. He plays for Chelsea and was also in the squad last year. Then another player to look out for is midfielder Titus Boois, who plays for Life Fighters in the premier league. He is a very talented player and was also in last year’s squad,” he adds.

Otjozondjupa have been drawn in a tough group against Kavango East, Hardap and Omaheke but Tjombe says he is confident they will reach the knockout stages.

“Omaheke is a bit tricky – they always have a good team, but the others, we expect to get our points from them. I’m sure we will make the knockout stages, we will be there in the semi-finals, that I can guarantee you,” he says.

Coach Mukoya, meanwhile, in recent years coached Namibia Correctional Services when they won the Southern Stream First Division in 2024, while he was Otjozondjupa’s assistant coach at the 2012 Newspaper Cup when they won the Plate competition.

“We had a strong team then and that’s where our goalie Edward Maova was spotted by Ricardo Mannetti for the national team. But this year’s team has a lot of potential and I believe we can go far,” he says.

Mukoya says they are in a tough group but adds that he is looking forward to the competition.

“I would say we are in the Group of Death – all the teams are very competitive, but we are excited to be in that group because it’s important to be in a group that’s very competitive, instead of being in a group that people say is weak. I’m very excited to be in that group and we are looking forward to the competition,” he says.

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