DTS edge closer to a top 6 finish

It was yet another exciting week concluded in the MTC HopSol Youth League, as the youngsters played a total of 45 games before the boys went about their school holidays.

Deutscher Turn und Sportverein U/19 (DTS) came out on top in a hard-fought battle against Julinho Athletic Football Club (JAFC), securing a 2–1 victory.

Both teams showed great determination and created plenty of moments throughout the game, but DTS managed to make the most of their chances. JAFC pushed hard for an equaliser, but DTS held their ground and saw out the game to claim all three points.

Coach Roy Modise from DTS admitted that it is always tough when they play against JAFC, as they try to match them every time they face each other.

“In today’s game, I think we got the result, but we did not create enough chances. It’s always a competitive game when we play against JAFC; there are a few errors that we made, and they could have gotten back to 2-2, but I think we were fortunate. We wanted these three points so we could secure our position for the next round,” he said.

Modise was pleased with the boys’ performance but was not too happy with how they conceded the first goal from a free header when JAFC took a corner kick. “No one contested that kick, and nobody showed to win the ball in the box.

I think these three points guarantee it for us, but we want the next three points when we play again within the week, because we can finish a bit higher.

Ultimately, the first objective was to get to the next round; now every match is a final from here on out,” he said.

JAFC coach Gerson Mbakondja described it as a beautiful, tactical game and praised the referee’s performance.

“Both teams came to the party, and I also want to thank the referee for a 4-out-of-5 performance. It was a brilliant game; he allowed it to flow, although our opponents began wasting time in the second half,” he said.

JAFC had the opportunity to level the scoreline but failed to convert numerous chances in front of goal, which frustrated the gaffer and led to missing out on a point in the end.

“My boys will give you a heart attack; sometimes they had clear chances as they were rushing into decisions and did not want to take their time,” he said.

“Imagine they are still young; imagine they are 16-year-old boys playing for the U/19 team, so we will go back and improve on the shooting so we can see how many goals we can get before we conclude the league,” he said.

Uandje Kaurisa, the captain of JAFC, was not too pleased with the match, as he felt they had their chances and could not bury them.

“Coming into the match, we knew that DTS was always going to give us a good game, but we need to switch focus to our next match later and not dwell on this one,” he said.

“I think a lot of things we did well in the match, but the most important thing right now is to keep our focus,” he ended.

Elsewhere

Ramblers U/19 delivered another masterclass performance on Saturday when they all but booked their place in the top six stages when they beat Swallows 5-1 at the Trustco United Football Field.

Coach Raymond Vilander said that they wanted to end on a high so that they could build momentum before going into the holiday break, which they did meticulously. “We are on top of the log, and tomorrow, when we wake up, it means nothing anymore because we wanted to keep the momentum.

Now we are going to the knockout stages; we wanted the boys to get more goals and to take chances, not to be afraid to take on players,” said the coach.

“You must realise we only had 12 players today, with one player on the bench – the same with Swallows. Some of the players went on holiday.

I don’t blame them, but I want the players available. I want the players available to come to the party; we should not be looking around for players and asking who is here and who is not here.

We are building team cohesion; we have 25 players. Any one of them should come on and come and give us a performance on any given day,” he ended.

–slunyangwenepc.com.na