Stars win N$1.5 million jackpot 

African Stars are N$1.5 million richer after winning the inaugural MTC Maris Cup on Saturday. 

Several thousand fans turned up for the match at the Hage Geingob Stadium and Stars didnt disappoint as a first half goal by their talisman Willy Stephanus secured them the victory. 

Stars came out attacking creating some chances in the opening minutes but strker Youssouf Ibroihim failed to convert. 

Stars however took the lead on 14 minutes when a corner was cleared to Stephanus who unleashed a cracker from theedge of the box that went into the ledft hand cortner of the net. 

Stars continued to attack and had several more opportunites in the first half but Stephanus and Abram Tjahikika both failed to hit the target. 

Young African came back more determined after the break with Nkwuda Obinna  providing some good crosses from the left wing, while Denzil Narib had a header well saved by Stars keeper Mervin Kasetura and Deacon Kakuenje headed over the bar from close range. 

As the match reached the final stages some heavy flying tackles went in and with emotions boiling over, referee Vistoria Shangula had her hands full to try and keep control. 

Young African however could not find the equaliser and Stars went in to clinch the trophty and the winner takes all prize of N$1,5 million. 

After the match Stephanus said their experience counted in the final. 

“It’s a great feeling, winning the first ever Maris Cup and I hope it’s going to be a running trophy. We know Young African is a good team and they would come at us because those boys are hungry, plus the rivalry has been there for the past two or three seasons so it was just our experience that counted today,” he said. 

“This trophy means a lot to the players, and it will boost us a lot going forward with our league campaign now. We are currently on top of the league so we’ll just keep on pushing it, and try and go for our third league title,” he added. 

Stephanus also thanked Stars’ fans for their support. 

“The Starlile faithful always come out in numbers especially here in Windhoek so we have to thank them as players and the way we do that is on the field of play.”

Young African defender Dylan Horongo said Stars took their chances and made less mistakes. 

“We knew that the team that took their chances was the one that was going to come out victorious. The team that was going to make the least mistakes was the one that was going to win the game, so Stars took their chances early in the game and then they managed the game,” he said. 

“Now that the cup is done we’ll just go back to the drawing board and work on correcting our mistakes. We are going to play them again on Tuesday, but it’s fine, they can have the cup, but the league is ours,” he added. 

Stars midfielder Abram Tjahikika won the player of the tournament award and their goalkeeper Kasetura the goalkeeper of the tournament award with each player receiving N$20 000.