WINDHOEK – Bidvest Cup defending champions African Stars will be advised not to slip on a potential banana peel when they square off against the giant killing Citizens Football Club in the final of the lucrative Bidvest Cup, in Windhoek later this month.
The newcomers are not only labeled giant killers following their unrivalled run in the Bidvest Cup, but looked destined to rewrite the history books by becoming the first team from the lower division to claim the country’s august football competition.
The boys with the Midas touch gained promotion to the country’s elite league at only their first attempt after local football administrator Dawid Goagoseb bought the (Monitronics) franchise from Zimbabwean academic Daniel Nyaungwa at the beginning of the 2013/2014 term. Citizens’ appearance in the Bidvest Cup final against Stars offers them an ideal platform to have their name engraved in the golden pages of Namibian archives.
Football was the overall winner on Saturday, with goals scored in a space of 180+ minutes of play in both semifinals. Magic’s Ghanaian striker Kalusha Alhassan was overwhelmingly voted man of the match despite his team finishing on the wrong end.
New Era Sport spoke to the coaches and this is what they said after 96 minutes of blood, sweat and tears:
Woody Jacobs: “It was a bit of a mental challenge because everyone had doubts about our mental toughness after we lost to Tura in a recent league outing but we had a strategy to nullify their usual attacking game plan. We knew they would come at us in full swing and all we needed to do was to close them down quickly on the wings.”
Timo Tjongarero: “I’m very pleased with the performance, I can’t fault my players because they really tried their best playing their lungs out but we needed a bit more than luck to unlock their rock-solid defence and score that elusive equalizer. Congratulations to Stars, they defended well but we certainly gave them a good run for their money.”
By Carlos Kambaekwa