Ramblers lack confidence as Da Cunha is flung out

RAMBLERS assistant coach Seun Stuurman says his players lacked self-confidence when they settled for a 1-all draw against defending champions Orlando Pirates in a premiership match at the Khomasdal Stadium on Sunday.

RAMBLERS assistant coach Seun Stuurman says his players lacked self-confidence when they settled for a 1-all draw against defending champions Orlando Pirates in a premiership match at the Khomasdal Stadium on Sunday.
He argues that his players could have downed Pirates if they just believed in themselves, but they instead went into the match fearing the opposition.
‘The guys did simply not believe in themselves. They did not have a lot of confidence and that cost us the game. If they had decided to take on Pirates and not fearing them, we could have beaten them. Self-confidence is vital in such big matches. We need to work on that and I hope with the next game we will do better,’ said the former Civics coach.
Stuurman assists head coach Eric Muinjo at Ramblers, but seems to call the shots both at training and during league matches.
At the same time, Pirates blew their chances of going top of the league through their misfiring strikers and are still in second spot behind SKW on 15 points from their seven matches.
Pirates scored through Frans de Muinda in the second half, while Ramblers got an equaliser through a penalty by Jeremia Baisako.
Despite fielding three different strikers during the game, Brian Isaacs’s tactics to break the Ramblers defence proved fruitless.
Pirates were however under immense pressure in the closing stages of the match with good crosses from especially Bernandine Mbilizi and Baisako landing favourably in the box.
The match could have possibly swung in their favour if he had kept Brazilian striker Leadro Alves Da Cunha a bit longer in the match instead of replacing him barely 30 minutes into the first half.

LEANDRO SAGA

Isaacs substituted Da Cunha with the youthful Sidney Uri-khob to the amazement of many of the Pirates supporters, who clearly outnumbered their counterparts on the stands on the day.
The Brazilian simply went straight to the changing rooms after being called off and his displeasure at being replaced was shared by team-mate Getzen Ndjiharine, who later went on to change before the match ended.
Ndjiharine was also not used in their friendly match against Petro de Luanda in which they lost 5-1, while Da Cunha played the entire first half at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Thursday.
Yesterday, Isaacs defended his decision.
‘Both Leandro and Samson (John) did not perform well and I wanted goals. They were just running around and did not put Ramblers under pressure. I needed a player who could do and that is why I brought in Sidney,’ he said. Team manager Mario Carreira said : ‘ The coach has the discretion of replacing players and it is up to him to see what works for the team. He made his decisions based on his analysis on the status of the game at that stage and him being the coach, he knew why he did that,’ said Carreira.
Carreira admitted that he received numerous calls from irate Pirates fans on the move by Isaacs, which he says was normal if a team has a lot of quality players.
‘All the players cannot play at the same time. The coach has to make sacrifices and go with the best on the day. He makes his decisions on the actions of the players on the field and to be honest, he is the only person who can substitute players because it is his job, not the team manager or supporters,’ he said.
Pirates bought Da Cunha from FC AK in South Africa last season and he is among the well-paid players at the club. He lives with his family in Windhoek.
He played for FC AK in the SA First Division before he left at the end of last season, but previously turned out for French Ligue 1 powerhouse Paris Saint Germain (PSG).
Da Cunha also played in France, Portugal, Romania, Italy and at Ivory Coast’s Asec Mimosasany. corry@namibian.com.na