The MTC HopSol Youth League under 17s’ last league game got underway at the Jan Möhr Football Field in the capital after a two-week break, with CBS inflicting a 2-1 defeat on Riverheights Football Academy (FA), their first defeat of the season.
The first half started lethargically for both teams, as they were not in good physical condition following the two-week break.
CBS had the first attempt at goal in the first five minutes of the match, but their frontman failed to hit the target, as his mistimed header went wide.
On the other hand, Riverheights also threatened with their first attempt at goal nestling at the back of the net after the CBS goalkeeper failed to keep Jason Kambonde’s shot out of the net, leaving the scoreline at 1-0 in favour of Riverheights at halftime.
After the break, CBS made three changes, and the move immediately paid off, as their first counterattack resulted in a goal by Winbard Kasera.
As the half continued, the momentum was on CBS’s side as they continued dominating the half and got rewarded when the man of the moment Kasera scored what proved to be the winning goal.
Riverheights coach Richard Tjari admitted their performance in the first half was better, but their decision-making going into the second half was detrimental for them.
“I think in the second half we made a slight mistake by taking out our right back; that’s when CBS started coming in from that side. I have to congratulate CBS on the way they came out in the second half,” he said.
Tjari felt that his substitutions allowed their opponents to control the game, citing the lack of control and urgency from his side in midfield after the removal of another key player in that department.
“He was a little bit tired, so we needed a bit of a quick transaction there, but it could not happen like that, and we ended up losing 2-1. But it’s fine because it’s our last game in the league, and we are now just waiting for the knockout stages. In addition, it is our first loss of the season, and we are second on the log behind SKW,” he said.
CBS gaffer Henrico Botes said they started too slow in the first half, which he attributed to the long break – even though he tried to get the boys some friendly matches to get them some match fitness.
“It’s still not an excuse; we were sluggish in the first half. We were losing the second ball a lot; they were the better team in the first half,” he explained.
Botes saw that his charges were performing below par, prompting him to bring in three subs, which worked in their favour, as they started dominating the game in the second half.
“The guys who went on did a great job – and immediately after the restart, you could see that, and it was just about managing it, and that made me proud,” he said.
The former Platinum Stars talisman’s side increased their intensity in the second half to counter the opponent’s game plan, which was direct football.
“We needed to put the ball down and play into the different areas, get the ball wide and score from there. Luckily, it worked out like that, and kudos to the guys who came on. I think we can build on the second-half performance.”
As the league heads into the knockout stages, Botes still feels the boys’ performance is not yet where he wants it to be.
“I think we need game time, especially some of the boys who’ve not played in a long time. So, knockouts are around the corner. If you have one bad game, you are out. We want to keep the winning mentality and break going into the next match,” he concluded.
- slunyangwe@nepc.com.na