In a rather one-sided match, Collin Benjamin’s Soccer Talents (CBS) delivered a 5-0 thrashing to Swallows in their U/17 home game at the Jan Möhr football field. 

The Katutura outfit was outplayed in almost every department during the first half. 

Del Piero and Xando Matroos each scored a brace, while Winhard Kasera added another, marking their dominance.

Swallows managed to contain the onslaught in the second half, keeping CBS at bay, and avoiding a more disastrous scoreline. 

Swallows’ coach Michael Uugwanga admitted that their opponents were superior on the day, and noted that they had fielded many of their U/15 boys for the match. 

“We have to congratulate CBS because they outnumbered us in every department. They did well, and controlled the tempo.  

“The other problem for us was the usage of our U/15 boys. We only had four U/17 players in the match today. I want to thank the young ones because we are talking about 13 to 14-year-old boys who were playing today,” he noted.

He believes the lesson was learnt, and that his team just needs to rectify certain mistakes that were made throughout the whole season. 

“We have only collected one point during our campaign. So hopefully next time, we can get maximum points.”

“The main aim of our current youngsters is actually to groom them for next season, as they will take over the U/17 group. We are building, and I am very proud of them. We give thanks to CBS because they are a well-coached and well-managed team, but let’s not take away from our team. We are doing our best as coaches to keep on encouraging the boys,” he said.

Coach Henrico Botes from CBS was happy with his side’s performance, especially with their attitude on the field, as they worked on those key areas during the week. 

“I am happy with the intensity – and pressing on the front, they were more alive, and also had better communication. It’s always nice when you score goals.”

The CBS mentor felt the team took their foot off the pedal in the second half, which led to them not scoring any goal in the last 30 minutes. 

“I don’t know if it’s because of the opposition, but we always tell the boys that regardless of whom we play against, we are in charge of our performance. 

I don’t know if they got a little bit tired, which is a little understandable. But all in all, I was happy how it penned out because we worked on that during the week,” he said.

“We scored in the first minutes of the game today, which was our plan to put them under pressure because Swallows like playing from the back. My instruction was to press from the front, and play as high as possible in that area, and capitalise on the mistakes.”

“In the second half, we struggled with decisions of when to pass, when to hold on to the ball, and when to make the run. So, there are little, small adjustments we have to make,” he said.

– slunyangwe@nepc.com.na