Football

The countdown to the biggest soccer match of the year has begun with both Black Africa and African Stars in confident mood of winning Saturday’s derby.

At a press conference organised by Black Africa on Tuesday, African Stars coach Ali Akan and Black Africa assistant coach Eric Quest addressed the media, saying they were both confident of victory.

Quest said they had a lot of respect for African Stars but were determined to win Saturday’s match.

South Africa has confirmed that they will be participating in the COSAFA Cup Zambia 2013 and will be bringing a strong squad to boot.

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund wanted to be able to take the strongest possible team to the regional championship, viewing it as the prestigious competition it has become.

That led to talks between the South African Football Association (SAFA) and the Premier Soccer League (PSL) for the release of the best players in the local league for the July 6-20 competition.

African Stars will meet Mighty Gunners in the final of the 2013 Bidvest Namibia Cup after they won their semi-finals clashes against Rundu-based sides Rundu chiefs and United Stars at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday.

Action started off at 16h00 as Mighty Gunners took on United Stars and it was Gunners striker Harold Ochurub who scored in the first half to give his side a dream start and a 1-0 halftime lead.

Mighty Gunners striker Harold Ochurub has taken a clear lead in the NPL Top Goalscorer competition and seems a near certainty to finish as the top goalscorer of the 2012/13 season.

With only two rounds of matches remaining, Ochurub leads the goal scorers chart with 13 goals from 20 matches.

He is five goals clear of Ramblers striker Heinrich Kazerua and African Stars midfielder Bradley Wermann who share second place with 8 goals each.

Namibia remained unchanged at 125 in the world on the latest FIFA rankings that were released on Thursday.

The Brave Warriors have not played over the past month while their next match will be a friendly against Zambia in Windhoek, provisionally set for May 24.

Namibia is ranked eighth in the SADC region and 37th in Africa.

Zambia are the top ranked nation in SADC with a world ranking of 46 and are followed by South Africa (56 in the world) and Angola (93).

The rest of the top SADC nations are Zimbabwe (105), Mozambique (106), Malawi (109), Botswana (125) and Namibia (125).

The Namibia Football Association (NFA) has expressed gratitude to Skorpion Zinc for their generous support for the recently concluded first-ever Skorpion Zinc U/17 Cup held at Keetmanshoop.

NFA president John Muinjo led the congratulatory messages to the mining giant by extending his appreciation for their involvement in youth football development.

“As President of the NFA, I hereby wish to wholeheartedly extend my appreciation and delight in the professional way the U17 Skorpion Zinc Cup in Keetmanshoop was hosted, organized and delivered."

Swedish coach Roger Palmgren has been signed by the Namibia Football Association as Namibia’s national coach for two years with an option of an extra year.

This was revealed by NFA Secretary General Barry Rukoro when Palmgren was introduced to the media at Soccer House on Wednesday morning.

“We agreed on a two-year contract with an option for another year, but we hope it will be longer than that,” Rukoro said.

Palmgren said he was approached by the NFA and decided to take up the challenge of coaching the Brave Warriors.

Mighty Gunners captain Harold Ochurub is ready to lead his side past United Stars into the 2013 Bidvest Namibia Cup, as the semifinals take center stage at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday.

The Otjiwarongo-based side Mighty Gunners breezed through to the last four sides in the competition with a narrow 1-0 victory over Blue Waters in the quarterfinals at the Sam Nujoma Stadium.

According to Ochurub, Mighty Gunners will play attacking football against their opponents as they set their eyes on reaching their first major final.

The 2013 Bidvest Namibia Cup semifinals will be played on Saturday 11 May at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek and tickets are available at Computer ticket.

The tickets for the semifinals matches involving African Stars, United Stars, Rundu Chiefs, and Mighty Gunners are going for N$20 each at Computicket at Shoprite and Checkers countrywide until Friday.

On match-day, Saturday 11 May, a ticket will cost you N$30 at Computicket and NFA Soccer House, while at the gate it will be N$50 a ticket.

The first ever edition of the Skorpion Zinc U/17 Cup played at in Keetmanshoop over the past weekend saw one hundred goals scored by the youngsters with Oshikoto Region’s Josef Utoni top scoring with 11 goals in six matches.

The youngster from Tsumeb told nfa.org.na that he used the tournament as a stepping stone to greater things in life so that he could one day enjoy his dream of playing top flight football for his boyhood club Black Africa.