…always a Pirate
WINDHOEK – The MTC Premiership title hopes of FNB Orlando Pirates have gone up in smoke following the surprise departure of the club’s leading striker, Theofelus Tsowaseb, better known as Ronaldo, in local football circles.
The free-scoring speedy forward has signed up with Soweto giants Orlando Pirates in a move that caught many by surprise – bringing to 12 the number of Namibian footballers campaigning in the lucrative South African Professional Soccer League (PSL). Tsowaseb has been training with the Ghosts during the past three weeks after he was recommended to Namibia’s only notable football agent one Colin April. He impressed the Pirates technical staff and came out tops amongst other trialists that included strikers from Zambia and Ghana. The 24-year-old forward signed a three-year contract with the Soweto giants after the personal terms and the transfer fee was agreed on between the player, his club Orlando Pirates (Namibia) and the Soweto club. April declined to disclose the signing on fee, citing confidentiality between employer and employee, but was quick to praise the Orlando Pirates management for releasing their most valuable asset at this crucial stage. “I must thank Pirates (Namibia) for the professional manner in which they handled Ronaldo’s transfer,” April said. Tsowaseb joined Pirates from northern giants Chief Santos in 2008 and has been a revelation to the success starving Ghosts followers ever since his arrival from Tsumeb.
The speedy striker now joins a top club with demanding fans where his countryman Rudolph Bester, struggled to make an immediate impression before he was subsequently offloaded to Golden Arrows on a season long loan move.
“I’m extremely delighted to have signed for Pirates, this is a dream come true for me and is just a culmination of hard work, because I have been working very hard at training since I arrived here. To be quite honest there is not much of a difference in terms of playing style other than that these people are very professional in their approach towards football, but I’m confident I will make the grade with hard work,” said Tsowaseb from Johannesburg, yesterday. On the domestic front, Tsowaseb could only manage one goal to his credit during the current term in the Ghosts’ opening fixture against title rivals African Stars and has endured a goal drought ever since.
By Carlos Kambaekwa