Unam FC and Mighty Gunners will battle it out for the Standard Bank Top 8 Cup winner’s purse of N$600 000 when they meet in the final at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
At the beginning of the tournament, neither team was fancied to win the title, but both rose to the occasion with impressive performances as they knocked out some of the favourites along the way.
League champions African Stars were already knocked out by Eleven Arrows in the quarter-finals, while Gunners beat league runners-up Eeshoke Chula Chula 1-0 through a goal by Deon Gariseb.
They then booked their place in the final with a narrow 1-0 win against Arrows, with star striker Mashiku Muyeka scoring the winning goal.
Unam beat Blue Waters on penalties and then beat FC Ongos 1-0 through a goal by Roberto Rugam to reach the final.
On paper, the teams weigh up quite evenly, and neither will enter the match as an outright favourite.
Gunners had a strong start to the league and even led the log in the early stages, but eventually finished third on 49 points, well behind Stars (58) and Chula Chula (57).
They played attacking football that saw them scoring the second-most goals in the league behind Stars, while Muyeka had a great season to win the Golden Boot award as the league’s top goalscorer.
He finished with 18 goals, well ahead of second-placed Tjitjiheiue Kurija of Eleven Arrows on 13 goals.
That form saw him breaking into the national team, while winger Barnand Horaseb has also forced his way into the national squad, making his national debut against Comoros last year.
In defence, Given Mutuezu has been consistent, as has captain Olzen Ameb in midfield, while another up-and-coming midfielder, Simeon Nambondi, has also broken into the national squad.
In Katti Nambadi they have an astute coach who is assisted by the experienced Gerhard Hengari.
Unam were seldom among the leaders, but they had a solid league campaign that saw them breaking into the top three at a stage, before they eventually finished seventh.
They didn’t score too many goals, and, in fact, had the second-least goals in the league with 27, but their success was built around a solid defence that leaked only 21 goals – the third-least in the league.
Martin Onesmus has been one of their stalwarts in defence, along with Simeon Ekandjo, who also broke into the national squad, and goalkeeper Owen Gariseb.
In midfield, their inspirational captain, Paulus Amutenya, has provided their creative attacking spark in midfield, along with Natangwe Petrus, while Nestor Iyambo, Roberto Rugam and Denzil Narib are their main threats up front.
In the league they weighed up very evenly, with Gunners winning their first-round match 2-1 away in Windhoek, while Unam won their second round encounter by the same score at Otjiwarongo.
Unam coach Robert Nauseb, who is backed up by a strong bench including assistant coach Willem Mwedihanga and goalkeeper coach Harry Januarie, says they are well prepared and raring to go.
“Our preparations have gone well. The players are in a good frame of mind, and the spirit in the camp is very high. We don’t have any injuries, so we have a full squad of players to choose from,” he says.
“Mighty Gunners is obviously a very difficult team to play against. It’s a very good team. They force you to adapt to the way they want to play the game. They’ve been doing very well in that sense, so it’s not an easy team to play against, but we’ve prepared well, according to the way we want to play our game.
“Facing a team of Gunners’ calibre, you have to be wide awake for the full 90 minutes, and you must be fully focused for 120 minutes if need be,” he says.
Nauseb says they have developed a strong squad over the past four years.
“But we need to be able to win something to show this is the result of it,” he says.
“I won’t say we’ll win the title, but we’re confident we’ll do well,” he says.
Gunners coach Nambadi was not available for comment.
The final is scheduled to kick off at 16h00 and will be preceded by a celebrity curtain raiser match between an NFA XI and a Standard Bank XI at 14h00.
