One of the biggest matches on the local football calendar – the Katutura derby between African Stars and Orlando Pirates – takes place on Sunday in a stadium on the brink of collapse.
Some rows of concrete slabs on the Open Stand of the Sam Nujoma Stadium have shifted and collapsed with the result that a large section of the stand has been cordoned off.
With African Stars fans traditionally sitting there, this could have a big affect on the turnout for the match, but NPL league administrator Tovey Hoebeb said he expected a big crowd to turn out.
“We have informed the authorities – the Arts and Recreation department of the municipality – and they are looking into the problem. We don’t want any injuries and have put some barriers up so I’d like to ask the fans to rather sit on the northern or southern stands. We anticipate a big crowd and have postponed the kickoff to 17h00 to accommodate everyone,” he said.
With the stadium’s floodlights also having failed, thus prohibiting night matches, the NPL has had to rearrange its fixtures and are now also using the Unam Stadium and the SKW field, which will host Stars’ match against Mighty Gunners tomorrow.
“The municipality is also looking into that, so for now we can’t play night matches at the Sam Nujoma Stadium and are trying to squeeze in the fixtures at other stadiums. But it hasn’t been too disruptive and after this weekend all the teams will be level again,” Hoebeb said.
The only outstanding issue then will be the rain-interrupted match between Tura Magic and United Stars which Hoebeb said had been resolved and that they would soon make an announcement.
Pirates’ form has been patchy of late as they lost consecutive home matches against Eleven Arrows and Blue Waters three weeks ago, although they beat Tura Magic in their last outing in the Bidvest Namibia Cup.
They also face Tura Magic at the Unam Stadium tomorrow, and although they have dropped down to ninth place on the log, coach Lucky Kakuva was in confident mood, saying they were aiming to win both their matches.
“It’s a pressure situation for us, but we are looking for six points this weekend. We definitely need to push up the log, but we still have two games in hand, so that can change a lot,” he said.
Despite their current position, Pirates have a proud record against both opponents, which Kakuva said they aimed to maintain.
“We need to protect our record against Tura Magic and African Stars. As far as I can remember, Tura have not beaten Pirates yet, while we beat African Stars in our last three matches,” he said.
Pirates currently have the league’s top goalscorer in their young striker Nicky Musambani who has scored nine goals in 15 games, but he has not scored for a while and Kakuva said he expected more from him.
“Nicky hasn’t scored for the last few matches and he can do much better,” he said.
Kakuva added that they had made three new signings – Luciano Fisher and Albertus Harobeb from the first division, and former Citizens midfielder Eduardo Eiseb.
African Stars, who also play Mighty Gunners tomorrow, go into the weekend with a four point lead at the top of the table and two matches in hand on the chasing pack.
In their last league outings they scored consecutive victories against Citizens and Civics and coach Woody Jacobs said they want to keep their winning streak going.
“We are looking forward to this weekend’s matches and want to maintain our winning run. It won’t be easy but I have confidence in my players – we’ve got the quality and the depth to collect six points,” he said.
“Gunners always raise their game against Stars and try and upset our rhythm, while Pirates have been our bogey team lately, so I’m expecting two tough matches,” he added.
Jacobs added that they had signed former Black Africa midfielder Klaas Blom and Tura Magic midfielder Robert Nganjone and Black Africa midfielder Klaas Blom, although Blom is not available this weekend. Wing back Freedom Puriza has also returned to Stars after a spell with Golden Arrows in South Africa.
In other matches this weekend, United Stars and Julinho Sporting of Rundu travel to Windhoek to take on Rebels and Tigers.
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