Rudolf Gaiseb
Germany’s Westphalia managed a win and a defeat against Namibian opposition this weekend at the Nedbank Namibian Newspaper Cup.
On Saturday, the German regional under-17 team beat Namibia’s under-17 Young Warriors in an international friendly – and on Monday, they played to an exciting 1-0 defeat against a selected team of the best players at the annual tournament at Legare Stadium in Gobabis.
Oliver Lange of Westphalia scored a brilliant header shortly before half-time.
Although the local supporters were solidly behind the Young Warriors, who played entertaining football, in the end, the Germans won narrowly.
Gerald Güther, the Young Warriors’ head coach, expressed his disappointment with New Era Sport following his team’s friendly loss to Germany’s Westphalia.
“It was a really tough match. We did not really get into the game,” he said.
He added that the matches against Westphalia are good for the development of the under-17 players and the exposure they get at the competition level.
“We played against a team that is well developed and has very good infrastructure, and I think we did very well,” he said.
On Monday, the convenor of selectors for the Newspaper Cup select team, James Britz, told New Era Sport that they considered players who performed well in one-on-one situations, had speed and did off-the-ball work. He hailed the tournament as a good platform to unearth raw talent.
“This gives a good platform to selectors. This is the only time we can have all 14 regions together, which means we are selecting from all over Namibia. We saw some good talent and some things that didn’t go well. We saw teams that did not do well and that did not prepare well for various reasons,” said Britz.
Some of the outstanding players identified by the selectors, like Maurizio January of Erongo, played exceptional football throughout the tournament and proved against the Germans why he was a firm fan favourite. The lanky number eight showed vision, creativity, superior passing ability and leadership qualities throughout the first half of the select team match against Westphalia.
He was replaced by another outstanding midfielder, Godwin Beukes of Hardap, who had tongues wagging all weekend with his silky skills.
But it was another substitute, Erongo’s Claudius Ameb, who broke the deadlock shortly after the break with a powerful grass cutter that had Westphalia keeper Lutz Breuers hopelessly sprawling on the floor.
Head coach of Westphalia, Holger Bekkinghoff, in an interview with New Era Sport about the team competing against Namibian players, said, “For our players, they must learn the different playing styles of Namibia. Namibia is always running and fighting. German football is technical,” Holger Bekkinghoff said.
– rrgaiseb@gmail.com