Defiant Jacobs vows to battle on

BLACK Africa coach Woody Jacobs vowed to beat log-leaders Tigers on Saturday and refused to give up hope in this year’s Namibia Premier League title race.

Tigers currently lead BA by nine points, with nine matches to go, but a defiant Jacobs yesterday said that the title race was not over yet.

“We won’t give up and we’ll keep on fighting till the end. I’ll only concede defeat once the fat lady sings.”

“This is the big one, it doesn’t come any bigger than this. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that Tigers are leading the log by nine points – they look like champions elect and it’s for us to stop them and the only way to stop them is to beat them,” he said.

He said he had a lot of respect for Tigers who were having a great season but they were ready for the challenge.

“Tigers are having a phenomenal season – they have gone on a record unbeaten stretch of 21 matches, and I think since Independence no other team has registered these kind of figures. So we have to acknowledge the work that is being done by the technical team and the players and even their management.

“But those sentiments aside, come Saturday, Black Africa is more than ready to take up the challenge. People have been writing us off and not giving us a chance, but it’s not in my vocabulary to say that it’s over and we will show that on Saturday.

Tigers’ assistant coach Peter Mokwena said they were ready for the match and called on their fans to show their support on Saturday.

“We are well prepared and ready for Black Africa. For me, BA is the most successful team in the history of the NPL and just to play them you get butterflies in your stomach.

“You can have good players and management, but if the support is not there it won’t help, so I’m appealing to our fans to come out in big numbers – paint your faces, wear blue and white colours and come help us win the league,” he added.

According to Jacobs, Black Africa have a few injury concerns with Muna Katupose and Willy Stephanus not available, while Bryan Bantam and goalkeeper Jack Mabuku must still undergo late fitness tests.

“Willy Stephanus has been nursing a hamstring injury so it was maybe a bit premature to throw him in against Unam last week. Muna (Katupose) is also still recovering from surgery, while our goalie Jack Mabuku and Bryan Bantam must still undergo late fitness tests. But it always opens up a window of opportunity to other players to lay down a marker, so that’s what we are aiming at,” he said.

If both Stephanus and Bantam are not available it will mean that BA will miss their most effective playmakers, but Jacobs said that other players could also fill that role.

“Marco van Wyk has been outstanding in that role and Wendell Rudath is a young player who has shown that he can cope with the demands of the game. I’ll just have to make some adaptations and tinker a bit with our formation but we have a lot of players we can use in that position.”

He said he also had faith in Roger Katjiteo to fill Katupose’s position.

“Muna has been a revelation for us and he has improved by leaps and bounds, but all credit to Roger Katjiteo who has scored three goals lately. I hope he will realise the potential he has – I have a lot of faith in him but he needs to fight for his team,” he said.

“The objective is to win the league and the pressure is always there. We’ve always had to play catch up this season and maybe the pressure got to us in our last games against Unam and Tura Magic. But I’ve told the guys to forget about the points and just go and enjoy themselves and I’m confident that we will beat Tigers on Saturday. We won’t give up and we’ll keep on fighting till the end – I’ll only concede victory once the fat lady sings,” he said.

Tigers don’t have any injury concerns although star defender Ferdinand Karongee will miss the match due to a red card.

“Karongee is definitely out. He has been a pillar in our defence, but now that he is not there, someone else will replace him and do the job. We have players like Kennedy (Amutenya), Knowledge (Muyoyaringa) and Patrick (Simon) to replace him so we have enough depth and it is not an emergency,” Mokwena said.

Mokwena however said there was still a long way to go.

“If we beat BA we won’t declare that we are the champions – there are still 21 points to play for and anything can happen in football. We must just win our remaining matches to make sure we win the league… But we are ready for BA and we must beat them if we want to win the league. I think it will be the happiest moment of my life if we win the league – even for Pirates or Stars fans as well.”