Sport Klub Windhoek’s U/17 (SKW) suffered another defeat when they lost to Riverheights Football Academy 1-0 on Saturday at the SKW B field.

The set matches of the MTC HopSol Youth League commenced over the weekend, with most of the age groups hitting the field except for the U/19 age group.

The tough encounter between Riverheights FA and SKW was a well-fought match as both teams applied stringent tactical approaches to keep each other at bay. But lady luck smiled for Riverheights when their efforts were rewarded by a corner kick, which SKW’s keeper conceded an own goal, gifting their opponents three points.

Coach Luciano Isaacks from SKW felt the game was well-balanced, given the results, as their opponents were not a walk in the park.

“It was a tough one. I think we gave it our all in the first half. It was quite tough between the two teams. It had to take something heartbreaking to separate the two teams. But I feel our match fitness is getting up there. You know, it’s a tough one. We take it as it is,” he said.

After the two games played, considering they lost last weekend, he feels that his players are on the right path as the season has just begun.

“I can say that we are improving. It’s a better game than our last game. We have been analysing our opponents as well. We expected a tough game as well. From my team’s side, we still have a lot that I want us to do on our weaknesses. There is a lot that we still need to do, but we are getting there. It is not the result that we really wanted, but we need to stay positive. I am sure it’s going to be turning on from how on.” 

Riverheights coach Penda Ndivayele felt his charges gave a good account of themselves given that they missed countless opportunities in front of goal but were satisfactory.

“It was a good match. Both teams were playing football except for the lucky one that buried his chance, and our goal just came in the last minute. We kept on banging until finally, we got one. Well, I appreciate it was good, and the boys showed consistency, and they were there and played really good football.” 

Ndivayele said his boys were a little bit nervous at the start as they could have buried the game earlier on just to leave it to the last minute to get the goal.

“I guess the boys were just nervous, panicking, and it’s got to do sometimes with your body movement, the way you position yourself, how you score the goal. So that leaves us as coaches to work on it and it is something that we must go back to the drawing board and pay more attention to and just fix it.” 

“So far, for the second game of the season, I am okay. Football is a rotating ball, you never know, but what’s going on for me now, it’s great, and I think it is both for the whole Riverheights family. We are okay, and we are working hard to reach higher heights,” he said.

“I think the improvement that we must do is based on my finishing and the headers. So, this is where our boys need to work more on and probably more on the defensive and closing. It is something that we still must work on, but otherwise, everything is good, and I really appreciate what the boys did. They fought till the end, and they got the results,” he added.

Penalty

Ramblers could have ended the match with three points when they were gifted a penalty in the last minutes of the game when they failed to score-settling for a 1-all draw against Deutscher Turn und Sportverein (DTS).

Former Otjiwarongo Secondary School and now DTS coach Ricardo Hifitikeko felt the draw was warranted as they almost lost the match in the dying minutes.

“Teams came for the win; we were just unfortunate to miss a few clear-cut chances. I am very much gutted considering a goal by the goalkeeper misjudging the ball. I mean, how unfortunate you can get, but overall, it was a good match. You know, both coaches were tense. You knew from the get-go that anybody could win the game and until the end of the game, it was open for both teams. But I am happy to go away with a draw, and we will go back to the drawing board, as they say,” he said.

“I am not happy with the boys’ performance because I believe that they can do better. We could have won last Saturday, we could have won, but we will fix it. There are a lot of games. There is still a second leg. The first leg is still not done, so we will get better.” 

Raymond Vilander from Ramblers felt his backline let him down because of their performance, which counted against them.

“To be honest, we played very poorly. We gave away a penalty. It was an equal game, we started dominating in the last 10 and 15 minutes. Brought in some fresh legs. At the depth, we had to take all three points, but unfortunately, it is one of those days. Don’t blame him for that because at another time, he would have put it away. So, we take the point, and we move forward from here,” he stated.

“Well, to be honest, we must work on that discipline. It is very important in a game like this because giving constant fouls away, unnecessary fouls. But we will have to work on that and just tone down a bit in terms of our temperament and our discipline. But it is something that we must look at.” 

“Yeah, we are happy so far. We are taking one game at a time. We are building on, we have a relatively new squad, only four to five boys from U/15 last year. So, we are building a new squad. We are giving boys an opportunity. So, I think by the third and fourth games, we should get together and get more progressive as the league goes on,” he said. 

-slunyangwe@nepc.com.na