Maurice Kambukwe
WINDHOEK– Enterprising midfielder Neville Tjiueza, veteran goalkeeper Helmuth Maletsky and lanky striker Roger Katjiteo are among the seven players that were recently offloaded by former Namibian champions African Stars.
Besides Tjiueza, Katjiteo and Maletsky, Stars also released midfielder Protash Kambwe, striker Panduleni Nekundi, defender Tinkler Kahua and Zimbabwean self-confessed fraudster Tapiwa Simon Musekiwa, while veteran winger Erwin Korukuve called it a day on his well-documented career.
To replace the offloaded players and also add a bit of meat to their squad ahead of the new season, Stars confirmed the signing to two imports from Madagascar and Comoros respectively.
Stars secured the signatures of Rakotonanahary Soloniana of Madagascar and Ibounayimine Soulimana from Comoros, while McDonald Geiseb, Edmund Kambanda, Mbemutjiua Mata, Deon Tjizumaue count amongst the new arrivals at the giant Katutura club.
Stars executive director Salomo Hei, speaking to New Era Sport recently, said the acquisition and release of players was influenced by the team’s performance last season and also the plans the club has for the upcoming season.
“At the end of last season, we received a technical report from our technical team which we studied and also looked at the recommendations of the report and that influenced our decisions. So that report gave us an overall feedback on how far the team has come in that specific season.
Now one of the aspects we looked at was which players we needed and which areas we needed to strengthen as a team. For instance, our objective as African Stars is to win the league and cups every season,” explained Hei.
“So if we don’t win the league and cups in that particular season, it means we didn’t fulfil our mandate as a team and we need to understand why we did not fulfill our mandate. Is it because of certain players who did not perform as expected or perhaps we need new players, and which areas we need to strengthen, as I said?” he added.
Stars, who also recently announced the arrival of Ghanaian Mohammed Gargo as new head coach, finished second last season behind archrivals Black Africa who were crowned Namibia Premier League (NPL) champions.