By Confidence Musariri
WINDHOEK The revamped version of the country’s most prestigious football tournament, the MTC’s NFA Cup, was launched in the capital yesterday. A pretty useful amount of N$690 500 is available as prize money for what promises to be a 32-team tournament of surprises, heartache and much fun for fans. The overall winner will be able to put N$350 000 in their pocket. Interestingly, more than half of the premiership teams are in difficult first round matches and even more harrowing is the realisation that half of them might not make it to the second round. Dethroned Cup Kings Black Africa have a tough assignment in trying to extricate themselves from the possible avid clutches of ailing Blue Waters when the MTC NFA Cup gets rolling in Mariental on February 24. Black Africa have had one of their best starts in the league this season and it is yet to be proven if coach Ronnie Kanalelo has the ‘money-game’ touch that his predecessor Bobby Samaria had two seasons ago – whereas Shepherd Murape’s sea boys seem to have failed to rise from the FNB Cup grief they endured last year. Blue Waters spent the rest of 2006 showing a new nerve for tournaments when they twice passed the quarter-finals of the FNB Cup, but have played badly this year in the premiership. Only 16 teams will progress to the second round set for the first weekend of March and this year’s edition has a heart-breaking effect as fewer premiership teams might make it to the quarter finals set for Oshakati’s Independence Stadium on April Fools’ Day. Also on the cards is another explosive first round confrontation between Orlando Pirates and the UA Tigers. Substance versus style. One of the country’s oldest clubs, Pirates has shown character, but Tigers’ second position on the log provides the answer to their current rhythm. Neither will wish to betray their followers at such an early stage come February 25 in Mariental. In Tsumeb, Oshakati City will be taking on Katima Wanderers; Eleven Arrows engage Golden Bees and Rundu Chiefs play Aranos. All the games are not necessarily trump card matches, but will certainly be the place to be for talent scouting and player-poaching. The team of the moment, African Stars, have a customary tribal clash in Tsumeb against an out-of-fashion former premier league side, Touch and Go. Log leaders Ramblers were paired with the lost boys of the premiership, Friends, who have switched to a new system of conceding basketball-type scores. Friends lie second from the bottom and have conceded 21 goals, far much more than the 17 that Ramblers has scored in eight games. The first round matches are set to provide the way forward for the continued glamour of the MTC NFA Cup. MTC boss Jose Ferreira yesterday called on everyone within the soccer structures to start working on the positive aspects of football. If the 32-team all-and-sundry-pool system fails to gain momentum by wooing many fans to the stadiums, there is likelihood that another format might be tried – next time in order to change the face of local football. Internationally, football sponsors want full-houses in most of the matches, as well as the advertising mileage for their products, hence MTC’s decision to take the cup to Swakopmund and Gobabis for the second round, Keetmanshoop for the semi-finals and the final in the capital on May 17. Ferreira’s comments seem to call on administrators to distance themselves from the habitual dislike of smaller teams reaching the finals. As it is, clashes like that of champions Civics and division one outfit Chief Santos would have had most soccer administrators wishing for Civics to emerge victorious to maintain the pedigree of the Cup, the fans and the competition. However, this year the sponsors want all teams to be competitive at the same level and not have a one-sided affair of football where super powers go unchallenged. Teams like African Stars and Black Africa have already shown that they can have a sound fan-base as long as they find a consistent winning formula. MTC seems to have seen it all at the FNB Cup last year when Stars fans came in hordes and proved those wrong who expected a one-sided final. At the moment, if Tough Guys beat Mountain Eagles and progress to the final of the MTC Cup to meet a team like Fedics United of the Karas Region, there is an arguably strong probability of having an empty stadium in the final. However, Ferreira seems to prefer better competition from all teams in the first round – which will ensure a more exciting final. Sports Minister John Mutorwa also backed MTC’s initiative of wanting an all-out involvement in promoting soccer from its grass-roots. “Sport is exciting, but it is also expensive,” he said before adding, “it is more than the action you see on the field,” in his speech at the launch. This year’s MTC-NFA Cup runners-up pocket a breezy N$130 000 and N$120 000 will be shared between 3rd and 4th-placed teams. Other First Round Matches: Tsumeb: Epupa Eleven Stars vs. Invincible Omeege United vs. PC Blue Boys Volcano vs. Robber Chanties Mariental: Nampol vs. Major Power Cymot SKW vs. Zambezi United Eleven Brothers vs. Fedics United Deportivo Alaves vs. Mighty Gunners