• Sport

Upsets at MTC Maris Cup

• 3 Days Ago - 2025-01-27 00:00:00

King Kauluma Palace FC coach Anderson Phiri lauded his team after an impressive performance saw them beating Khomas Nampol FC 3-0 in the MTC Maris Cup round of 16 on Saturday.
Phiri's boys came into the match as underdogs, but showed no signs of nerves as they stunned the police side.
“First and foremost we have to give glory to God after this exciting victory.
“The victory was not a coincidence because we played exactly the way we planned.
“Our players created a lot of chances that could have even given us a lead in the first half had they been converted,” Phiri said.
The first half was played at a high pace with end-to-end action.
Palace however looked the livelier of the two, playing the match at a high pace and connecting well in their passing game.
The game however failed to produce a goal in the first half.
The northern-based side came out of the tunnel for the second half looking hungrier and growing in confidence.
KK Palace was awarded a penalty, which Kaliluka Kalumbweka converted.
The team then pushed on and got another goal through Elias Hambongo.
Hambongo got his second goal on the 90th minute mark to seal the victory for Palace.
“I think the players can smell that winning prize of N$1,5 million and they sense that we do have a chance.
“The quarterfinals will be played in Oshakati and that is definitely a plus for us, because we will have that advantage of playing at the Oshakati Stadium,” Phiri noted.

Nampol disappointed
Khomas Nampol, who has started the new premier league football season well, were however left disappointed after being knocked out by a newly promoted team.
Coach Fortune Eichab expressed disappointment in the defeat and vowed to bounce back.
“It is indeed very disappointing that we were not able to advance to the next stage.
“Things were not working for us in this one and we just have to go back to the drawing board.
“Yes, we could have gotten a penalty somewhere in the match, but the referee felt otherwise. We can’t complain about that really, because that is football,” Eichab said.

Young African on fire
Young African FC on the other hand carried their domestic league form into the cup competition.
The Gobabis team faced a resilient Young Brazilians side whom they have already beaten in the league this season.
The teams started the match at a high pace as they all aimed to draw first blood.
The chances created by either teams in the first half however went astray.
Young African was however putting a lot of passes together and putting the Young Brazilians wing backs under immense pressure.
The Gobabis team demonstrated finesse and speed on the break.
The start of the second half saw Karasburg’s Young Brazilians also pushing men forward, while Young African made a few chances themselves.
It was however substitute Tjimbauja Kapuuo who wrote his own script by scoring a fine goal to break the deadlock.
Kapuuo’s goal proved to be the winner after Young Brazilians' efforts to rescue the match did not deliver the result they desired.

Chula Chula sent packing
In another interesting match late on Saturday, crowd favourites Eeshoke Chula Chula’s dreams of playing a quarterfinal on home soil were shattered when Unam FC knocked them out.
The two teams could not be separated in normal time after playing to a 0-0 stalemate.
The penalty shootouts were to be the decider of the game as Unam FC converted five, while Eeshoke Chula Chula only scored three.

Coastal representative
Blue Waters scraped through to take their place in the last eight, although they needed a penalty shootout to advance past Okahandja United.
Blue Waters’ Sem Ndahangwapo opened the scoring in the first half, but Ricardo Isaacks equalized to finish the 90 minutes at 1-1.
From the penalty spot, luck favoured the Walvis Bay team, who advanced with four strikes against three.
• Among the Sunday matches, FC Ongos’ 3-0 win against Cuca Tops was completed before our cut-off time of going to press.
Bucks Buccaneers also stormed to a 3-0 win over Julinho Athletic, while Mighty Gunners v Tigers, and Blue Boys v African Stars were the late matches for supporters at Hage Geingob Stadium.