Fairytale win for Windhoek Football Club

WINDHOEK Football Club won the u19 trophy of the Hopsol Youth Football League when they beat SKW 3-0 on Saturday.

It was a fairytale win for the team, which only entered the league for the first time this year, according to their owner, the popular Namibian musician Wambo Seun.

“I had tears in my eyes, it’s like a fairytale. It feels unreal and it will only hit me later,” he said, adding that it was a long process to form a team.

“The idea started when I watched Germany winning the 2014 World Cup. I was so inspired, and decided to start my own football team so I joined up with coach Justice Sitabi and we started putting a team together.”

“We recruited the boys from all over, but there were a lot of challenges and we had no training facilities. This year we finally managed to start training at the NFA centre and we entered the HopSol League,” he said.

On Saturday, they were good value for their win as they made better use of their chances.

The first half was quite evenly balanced with few clearcut chances on either side.

Salomon Negumbo and Innocent Tlhahile put in some tricky runs for Windhoek FC, while Colen Tjikungu came close with a diving header from a Negumbo free kick.

At the other end, Debrage Oe-Amseb shot narrowly wide while Captain Pomwene had a shot blocked by the defence.

SKW stepped up the tempo after the break, with Malakia Neramba and Zinedine Stuurman coming close, but Windhoek FC struck first when an unmarked Tjikungu volleyed home a cross from Andreas Hamurenge.

SKW came back strongly in search of the equaliser, and created several chances, but could not capitalise due to poor finishing.

Instead it was Windhoek FC who finished stronger and sealed their victory with two more goals in the final five minutes.

Konis Englebrecht scored a great goal from an acute angle on the right wing and then, Janrie Hochobeb ran onto a long clearance to round the keeper and put the ball into an empty net.

It was a fine victory for the young team and according to Wambo Seun, they have big ambitions for the future.

“Our aim now is to play in the second division next season, then in the first division and eventually in the Premier League,” he said.

And will he write a song about their fairy tale victory?

“Well I haven’t thought about that, but that’s a good idea,” he said with a smile.

In the u17 final, SKW beat Ramblers 1-0, and in the u15 final, Ramblers beat SKW 3-0.

The chairman of HopSol, Robert Hopperdietzel, paid tribute to his administrative team, led by former Brave Warriors star Collin Benjamin.

“For me it’s not just about being a sponsor – it gives me a lot of pleasure to be part of this. Collin is very professional and he’s got a great team around him, they all made it possible. I have seen a lot of progress over the year and I’m very excited for 2019,” he said.