Africa-Press – Namibia. WALVIS Bay premier league team Eleven Arrows won the ‘Battle of the Coast’ tournament on penalties (7-6) against their local rival Blue Waters on Saturday.
The tournament is an initiative of the Erongo Football League committee to revive competitive domestic football in the region.
It was the first tournament since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hendrick David, the regional league chairperson, said more needs to be done to get the fitness levels of the players up again.
“We will not stop here. We will engage with sponsors to come up with another similar initiative,” he said.
The match had to be decided on penalties after the two teams were tied at one-all at the end of ninety minutes in front of their supporters at Jan Wilkens Stadium.
Both goals were scored in the second half.
After a goalless first half, Eleven Arrows attacker Martin Shimaneni opened the scoring, but Blue Waters drew level barely two minutes later when their national midfielder Prins Tjiueza scored after launching an attack from the right.
Former Brave Warriors defender Richard Gariseb was asked at the last minute to prepare Eleven Arrows for the tournament.
They only trained for one day and according to his observation of the tournament, there is a great need for the domestic league to return.
“One could see the game was good and players were competing,” he said.
Blue Water coach Lucky Shipanga felt it was a good game and they managed to entertain soccer lovers at Walvis Bay.
“Players showcased their talent. We didn’t do much when it came to the technical and tactical game plan, but it was good to see the potential of the players,” he said.
Eleven Arrows attacker Jonas Sakaria was crowned man of the match in the derby.
The chairperson of the tournament’s organising committee, Robert Shimooshili, said plans for the second edition of the tournament are underway.
Full results:
Second Division match:
Blue Birds FC 3-1 Young Eleven FC
Prize: Trophy and N$5 000
First Division match
Western Spurs 2-1 Blue Boys FC
Prize: Trophy and N$7 000
Premier League: Eleven Arrows 7-6 Blue Waters.
Prize: Trophy and N$10 000.
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