Riverheights Football Academy’s under-15 collected four points at the weekend by winning against Windhoek Gymnasium (WHK Gym) 1-0, and recording a 0-0 stalemate with Athletic Club Football Academy (ACFA).

This puts Riverheights at number four in group A, while ACFA is in pole position with 22 points. Coach Ronald Chari said they had to win Friday’s game for them to qualify for the next stage, and to reach the top eight as the season comes to an end.

“This was a hard-fought win, as we needed to win this game to qualify. We are now fourth on the log, which means we can go through,” he said.

Chari was not too happy with how they played, as their finishing was poor throughout the match. 

“We are not pressing the way Riverheights is supposed to press, so going to the knockout stages, we need to rectify that… I am happy with the way Windhoek Gymnasium is playing these days. We played them in the cup competition, losing 3-0. We knew it was not going to be an easy game today, but we are happy we won,” he said.

Coach Gilbert Mogane from Windhoek Gymnasium said they could have done better in the first half.

 “They did not come to the party. I had a halftime talk with them. I told them they had to go in and fight, and made a few changes. I could see a difference, but the end product did not come out the way we wanted,”he noted.

He added: “I am happy with the boys for a team that I just started this year. As I said, it’s a building phase. From this team, we will make them stronger, and push on next year”.

The chances for Windhoek Gymnasium to progress to the knockout are very slim, admitted Mogane.

“What can I say, it’s football. This season, we made a lot of changes with all our age groups, starting from under 15 up to under 19. We plan to improve on every game – every season. Maybe one of the seasons you will see we are up there. It’s a slow process, but we will get there,” he said. Elsewhere, Dokkies Shmidt Football Academy’s U-17 (DSFA) outplayed Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) by hammering them 4-0 at the Jan Möhr Football field.

Fisharo Tjatindi from DSFA felt his team deserved the win, as they had been putting in the work.

“To give such a performance today, I must say I’m thankful to the boys. We need to play against these top teams in the league to get the best out of the players, and today was one of them,” he said.

Juanito Goliath expressed joy over bagging two goals but felt they did not put their best foot forward.

“It was a good result, and I scored two amazing goals. We played well, but we usually kept the ball more and played on the ground. So, our game had to change – and luckily, we got the result,” he noted.

-slunyangwe@nepc.com.na