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Civics One Step Away

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By Kuvee Kangueehi WINDHOEK MTC Premier League Champions Civics FC are quickly closing on their second league title. The Khomasdal side last weekend collected six points and extended their lead at the top of the table by five. Civics comprehensively beat second placed Ramblers 2-0 at the Independence Stadium to stamp their authority on the championship. With only three matches left, Civics are one victory away from the second championship title as they have a better goal difference than second placed Ramblers. After a poor start on Saturday afternoon which saw them missing a penalty, Civics rediscovered the form which made them champions last season and took the lead through a beautiful free kick from their talented midfielder Rudi Louw towards the end of the first half. Civics made the game safe in the second stanza thanks to a goal from the goal machine William Chilufiya who was busy the entire afternoon. Civics on Sunday beat United Africa Tigers 2-1 to complete a remarkable weekend, which puts them in pole position to be crowned champions again. Second placed Ramblers on Sunday hammered Touch & Go 3-1 to keep the title race alive. Civics this weekend travel to Walvis Bay where a victory against Blue Waters will hand them the title. If Civics secure the three points against Blue Waters on Saturday their match against Eleven Arrows on Sunday will be academic. Ramblers who are looking to upset Civics in the run-in for the title will travel to the north and are expected to collect maximum points against Chief Santos who find themselves at the bottom of the log. The Tsumeb side only managed to collect a single point from both matches this weekend, going down on Sunday against Cymot SKW 3-0. The result was a very significant one for SKW who moved out of the relegation zone and need to collect more points this weekend to secure safety. SKW have tough assignments this weekend, firstly against African Stars on Friday morning before they play Black Africa on Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, Nampa reports that the hunt for the right under-17 Oshana regional soccer players continues and, as such, a mini-tournament in this regard was organized through the Ongwediva Soccer Development Academy at the weekend. Regional coach for the Oshana region, Dominikus Kornelius, is at the forefront of this hunt. He told Nampa in an interview on Monday that the mini-tournament held on Saturday and Sunday was organized to identify the right players for the under-17 Oshana regional soccer team. According to him, last weekend’s mini-tournament was organized to select some more players for the adjustments needed in the already selected regional team. Kornelius said the selection of this team is so as to have a developmental team from which the regional team could draw tried and tested players in the future. “‘You can only get the right players for the developmental team through competitions like the one we had on Saturday and Sunday,” Kornelius noted. Meanwhile, the Ongwediva Soccer Development Academy (under-12 team) defeated their counterparts from Oshakati Youth Development by 2-0 in the curtain-raiser of last weekend’s mini-tournament. Oneshila-based Spartaka, Oshakati Youth Development, Hanover and Ongwediva Soccer Development Academy provided the under-17 teams that took part in the four-team mini-tournament of last weekend. The Oshakati under-17 boys handed their counterparts from Oneshila (Spartaka) a 2-0 defeat, while Ongwediva Soccer Development Academy humiliated their arch-rivals Hanover by 9-1 during the first two matches of the tournament. Ongwediva Soccer Development Academy won the tournament and took home a floating trophy after beating the Oshakati Youth Development by 3-1 in the final match of the tournament. A local business outlet, Fysal, sponsored the tournament with the trophy.