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Home / Santos and Tops in tight title race … football authorities warn against underhand deals
Santos and Tops in tight title race … football authorities warn against underhand deals
2016-05-11Staff Report 2 Windhoek As the race for the last available spot in the country’s elite football league - the MTC Premiership - intensifies, murmurs of discontent have started to circulate at an alarming pace and are spreading like wildfire. As it stands, two teams in the highly competitive Northern Stream Division One are entangled in a neck-on-neck race for promotion to the elite league. The identity of the remaining entrant to the Premier league will be determined this coming weekend. Both former MTC Premiership members Chief Santos and Cuca Tops are engaged in a tight race as they contest for promotion to the 16-team MTC Premiership. Nomstoub-based Santos currently occupy first spot on the log table with 43 points accumulated, while second-placed Cuca Tops from Rundu - the Copper Lads - are enjoying a large share of advantage as a result of their superior goal tally. The Mohammed ‘Slice’ Ouseb-coached Santos could finally make their long overdue return to familiar territory with a win in their last league assignment against 5th placed Oshikango Chiefs at Oscar Norich Stadium in Tsumeb on Saturday, as the curtain closes on League One activities for the season. Cuca Tops will conclude their marathon league fixtures with a local derby against old foes Bingo Football Club at the Rundu Sports Stadium. Both title deciders have been slated to start simultaneously to avoid any chance of unscrupulous underhand deals that might occur. Meanwhile, an official from title-chasing Santos, who humbly requested that his identity be withheld for fear of reprisals, expressed serious concerns over the potential manipulation of results. “We’ve been in this game for a considerable amount of years and have seen quite a significant array of funny things happen in domestic football, notably when there’s a lot at stake. All we’re pleading for is for league authorities to appoint credible match officials and to keep a close watch on the proceedings.” Should both teams win their decisive remaining matches, Santos will be crowned champions, unless the Rundu-based outfit rewrite the history books by walloping their “likely generous” neighbours by scoring an avalanche of goals, to the extent that they rattle the opposition’s net no fewer than 20 times, a practice that would require an average of one goal every 2.5 minutes. 2016-05-11Staff Report 2
