U/17s find German glory

NAMIBIA’S national U/17 soccer team pulled off a great 1-0 victory against a strong Westphalia U/17 team on Tuesday.

Namibian winger Eslin Kamuhanga, who plays for Civics in the Premier League, settled the outcome with a great goal on the counter-attack in the final minutes of the match.With the victory, Namibia maintained their unbeaten run on the German tour, after drawing 1-1 against Gelsenkirchen SV Bauer a few days ago.According to the team manager, Klaus Stärk, Namibia started the game as clear outsiders against a strong Westphalia U/17 team that included youth players from top German Bundesliga clubs like Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04, Vfl Bochum and Arminia Bielefeld.The German players were clearly physically stronger than their Namibian counterparts, but according to Stärk they were not able to impose their physical superiority on Namibia.’The German players did not use their physical superiority, while Namibia played a perfect midfield-pressing game which enabled us to keep the ball far away from our own goal, which disturbed our opponents’ game plan,’ he said.’From the beginning, the Namibians played with tactical discipline and used their technique to great advantage. During the first half, Westphalia could not create one single chance to score. Namibia kept the match open and inspired the big audience by playing fast combinations and counter attacks,’ he added.In the second half Westphalia has had two chances to score, but failed because of the brilliant goalkeeping of Collin Ndjai.Namibia’s young talents played from a stable defence and mostly employed counter-attacks, one of which led to the winning goal shortly before the end.Namibia’s playmaker Neville Tjiueza served a dream pass to Kamuhanga who shook off his marker with his great speed and scored the winning goal with a shot that hit the top of the net. According to Stärk, the German fans gave Namibia great support, while Westphalia’s officials were also impressed by the Namibian team.’After the match, the ‘Young Warriors’ received a lot of praise from the Westphalia officials who were amazed by the talent and achievements of the young Namibians. They told me that this was the best Namibian team to yet to have played in Germany,’ Stärk said.In the first match against SV Bauer, Namibia created a lot of chances to win the match but failed to capitalise on them.’Namibia controlled the game from the beginning and created a lot of chances, but failed to score because of the brilliant performance of the opponents’ goalkeeper, as well as a lack of intelligence in front of goal. Nevertheless, it was the first game after a long trip and the team played a nice game. In the end, they just forgot to finish the attack successfully,’ Stärk said.The Namibian team resides in the training camp of the Westphalia sports school of Kaiserau. The team has been invited by the Football and Athletics Association of Westphalia (FLVW) and will play different preparatory games. At the end of May, they will also participate in an international tournament in Theesen, a little town near Bielefeld.During their time in Germany, manager Stärk and coach Kornelius Domenikus call the players up for training twice a day and the coaches run a big programme to develop the youngsters in all areas of football such as technique, tactics and fitness. – www.namibiasport.com.na