Africa-Press – Namibia. PETER Shalulile epitomises everything the average Namibian footballer should aspire to be. Excellent, relentless and focused. The Brave Warriors captain and Mamemoli Sundowns striker has been in prolific form over the past 12 months, elevating his terrific performance from 2020 to new heights.
A consummate professional, Shalulile’s indefatigable industry and commitment have made him a fearsome proposition for opposing defenders, and have earned him rave reviews from his coaches.
Last week, the free-scoring forward tied retired Zimbabwean hitman Wilfred ‘Silver Fox’ Mugeyi’s landmark for most South African Premiership goals in a calendar year.
‘Sha-Sha’ can become the outright holder of the record, if he gets on the scoresheet against Marumo Gallants tomorrow to register his 25th league goal in 2021.
That would be the perfect way to round off a rewarding year for the former Tura Magic defender whose transition into a lethal forward across the border has recently led to fans dubbing him PSL, which stands for ‘Peter Shaluli-League’.
In June, the 27-year-old scooped two top honours following a successful debut campaign with Sundowns. He walked away with both the PSL footballer of the season and player’s player of the season accolades, after inspiring Sundowns to the league title. CONTINENTAL COMPETITIONS
Another positive for Namibian football was the participation of Tura Magic Ladies in the inaugural CAF Women’s Champions League; the Young Warriors qualifying and competing at the U20 Africa Cup of Nations; the Brave Gladiators in the Cosafa Women’s Championship; and Brave Warriors in the African Nations Championships, Fifa World Cup qualifiers and men’s Cosafa Cup.
The Magicians may not have a won a match at the Cosafa qualifying tournament, but there were priceless lessons learned. CLUTCH MOMENT Zenatha Coleman played just two games for the Brave Gladiators this year and scored five goals.
That is the definition of a clutch player. She missed the Cosafa Women’s Championship, and her absence was sorely felt as the Gladiators put in an underwhelming shift under their new interim boss Woody Jacobs.
A few weeks later, Coleman cemented her reputation as one of the leading stars on the continent, and she almost single-handedly dispatched highly fancied Tanzania.
The Sevilla FC Femenino star scored all of Namibia’s goals as they defeated newly crowned Cosafa champions Tanzania home and away, to storm into the second round of qualifying for the 2022 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Coleman scored a hat-trick in the 3-2 second leg win to go with the two goals she netted in the first leg in Dar es Salaam, which ended 2-1 to Namibia.
Domestic football also made a brief appearance, until national Covid-19 regulations forced it into recess. While the MTC NFA Cup resumed and concluded, the Namibia Premier Football League has not. The latter competition appears to have been abandoned altogether.
There are reportedly no funds to do so, with the remaining funds from Fifa originally designated for Covid-19 relief being used to plug costly international assignment deficits and admin costs. THE BAD
As is customary, another run-on episode of unwarranted Namibia Football Association (NFA) squabbles took centre stage this year. With the ad lib script changing hands at a rate of knots, football lovers and players are likely to experience more of the same misery next year.
A self-implosion of seismic proportions has effectively put Ranga Haikali’s administration into early retirement, or not according to Cosafa. The entire NFA executive committee, which includes Haikali, was dismissed at the 30th NFA ordinary congress on 4 December.
However, Cosafa president Phillip Chiyangwa said the regional body does not accept the expulsions. Haikali has a case for alleged corruption before the NFA ethics committee.
He is embroiled in a public power struggle with secretary general Franco Cosmos, who enjoys the backing of half the expelled NFA executive. Cosmos was the remedial Fifa Normalisation Committee for Namibia’s deputy chair, which oversaw the 2020 elections in which Haikali was elected NFA president.
Haikali retained him but they have rarely seen eye to eye since. In August, he charged Cosmos with undermining resolutions passed by the NFA executive committee; financial mismanagement; failure to operate within NFA policy stipulations; and taking on responsibilities beyond the jurisdiction of his portfolio.
The executive committee dismissal was effected after the NFA members unanimously opted to forgo the arrival of a Fifa-directed roadmap of measures to restore and resuscitate football in Namibia.
These recommendations were due the first week of December. However, CAF has remained mum on the Namibian issue since CAF secretary general Véron Mosengo-Omba held crisis talks with the NFA and other football stakeholders in early November.
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