ACFA, DTS shine at SKW tourney

ATHLETIC Club Football Academy and DTS each won two titles at the Swakopmund Youth Football tournament over the weekend.

The tournament, which was once again sponsored by Retirement Fund Solutions for the 12th year, saw close to 700 children from 68 teams competing in various age groups from u7 to u17 level.

Most of the teams came from football academies and clubs in Windhoek like the hosts, Swakopmund, Athletic Club Football Academy (ACFA), Kaizen Football Club, DTS, Ramblers and Fortis, as well as Windhoek Gymnasium High School, although some teams from other regions also competed.

They included Swakopmund Football Club and Genesis Youth Academy from the coast, as well as Otjiwarongo Secondary School and Kaizen Football Academy’s Rosh Pinah-based team.

The SKW Super Strikers team won the u7 title which was determined on a round robin basis, with DTS coming second and ACFA A third.

DTS won the u9 title after beating Swakopmund Football Club (SFC) 4-2 on penalties in the final, while ACFA B beat SKW B 1-0 in the u9 bronze medal match.

DTS also won the u11 title after beating Kaizen Football Academy 4-2 on penalties, while SKW A won the bronze medal after beating ACFA A 2-1 in the third place play-off.

ACFA won the u13 title after beating DTS 5-4 on penalties in the final, while KFA beat Genesis 5-3 in the bronze medal playoff match.

Swakopmund Football Club won the u15 title after beating KFA’s Rosh Pinah team 1-0 in the final, while SKW beat Ramblers 5-4 on penalties in the third place play-off.

ACFA also clinched the u17 title after beating SFC 4-2 on penalties in the final, while Genesis Youth Academy beat SKW 4-2 in the third place play-off match.

In the u17 final, ACFA had most of the possession and had several shots on target but SFC’s goal keeper brought off some fine saves to keep his side in the contest.

In the penalty shootout, however, ACFA’s goalie made one save, while two SFC players missed their shots as ACFA won the title 4-2 on penalties.

ACFA coach Nicky Gaweseb said they were deserved winners of the title.

“We dominated the game in the first half and in the second half we picked up the pace and managed to take some shots at goal, but their goalkeeper was quite good and kept us out. The match had to be decided on penalties and at the end of the day we managed to win the shootout,” he said.

“This title means a lot to us, because this is our first title so far this year and hopefully we will push on and get more titles now,” he added.

Gaweseb said it was a successful tournament for their academy with several of their other teams also doing well.

“Our u13 team won the u13 title, while our u11s and u7s both played for the bronze medals, so we did well in the tournament,” he said, adding that they had a lot of talented players who could co far.

“There are a lot of future Brave Warriors players at our academy, the quality is there, so hopefully football will start in Namibia and we will be able to see the players in action soon.”