Kasaona FA thrash DTS

… Riverheights, Ramblers settle for 1-all draw

The 10th season of the MTC HopSol Youth Soccer League finally kicked off last week, with the U/15, U/17 and U/19 age groups taking to the field.

Kasaona Football Academy put up a dashing performance, dismissing Deutscher Turn und Sportverein (DTS) U/17 4-0 and collecting three points in their group at the start of the season.

Matheus Hamupolo, the coach of Kasaona, said it feels great to be back for the season as they opened their account with a thumping victory at the Jan Möhr Secondary School football field late Friday afternoon.

Ironically, DTS’s first game of last season was against Kasaona FA, and they lost that game by the same score.
Even though Kasaona won by four goals, coach Hamupolo felt his boys were off, as they did not start with his full bench, with only one player on the sidelines.

My boys did not show up today, but at least we got the result we were looking for. We had sloppy play from the players at the back, even, and they were too relaxed,

– he said.

Kasaona’s game plan for the first match was to defend and see what DTS would bring to the table so they could respond accordingly, he admitted. “My players were slow in transition, and slow because we should have buried this game in the first half,” he added.

Our plans going forward are to show up for game day. We are going to address that first because if we don’t show up, then it’s a problem. If it were another team that was more focused and good tactically, we would have been beaten by a margin. My boys had to run the whole game, even those who do not usually play a full game; they had to step up today,

– he stated.
Hamupolo feels excited about the new season and is ready to resume his boys’ regular league soccer match after the holiday, having played some tournaments recently.

We could not be less happy, as we are excited. The boys are ready – they are fit. We have been training since January, as we have been preparing the whole time,

– he said.

DTS coach Ricardo Hifitikeko was baffled that they could lose by the same scoreline when they played each other last year in their opening game.

It’s not how we wanted to start the season, but I think it’s a learning curve. Last year, we lost to the same team at the start of the league, and the way the league went, I don’t want it to go that way again,

– he said.

We have bits and pieces to fix, and I won’t say they were the better team because it was a head-on clash today. They just took their chances. If you take your chances, at the end of the day, you will win. Right after, we missed a one-on-one that we could have scored on. They took the ball, and it went straight to our goal post and scored, which demoralised our boys,

– he stated.
He mentioned:

You could literally see we were creating our chances and see them not taking them in the end. What could I do but laugh at the situation? I wouldn’t change anything – just work on converting our chances better. When our players were isolated, the opponents would gang up on him with no support from his teammates.

Elsewhere

Riverheights Football Academy held on to a two-all draw against Ramblers U/15 at the same venue in their group opening game.
The river side team looked likely to win the match but lost a bit of focus, always allowing Ramblers to catch up to level the playing field.
Coach Penda Ndivayele from Riverheights FA felt the game was a good start to the season, with some new players coming into the squad who are still getting used to their style of play.

The game was ok, it’s the start of the season, I believe the boys aren’t in tune yet, so the draw for me is an ok result, better than having nothing at all. It’s one point in the bag for me, I believe we can come back strong as the game did not go according to plan, perhaps it’s because the boys were not into it yet,

– he said.
Ndivayele feels the boys still need to find their rhythm at the back.
However, as an opening game for them, he was pleased with how the match ended.

Our defence line got a little bit distracted, as they lost concentration when they scored their equaliser to salvage a point,

– he said.

The plans for the season are to work harder, quicker and get better results. We want to get back to the way we used to play, since there was no passing, but it will come with time. They will be learning because it’s a learning process. Every time new players come in, it is not the same as before. The old ones move onto the big age group, so the new ones need to learn and get there. It’s a learning process,

– she shared.
Sherdin Beukes, captain of Ramblers, was disappointed to start the season with a draw, as they aimed for a win.
He said:

What went wrong is that we could not put the ball on the floor and made some mistakes at the back. We also did not communicate enough amongst ourselves on the field.

We have a little bit of rustiness and lack a bit of confidence, but we should also try to put the ball on the floor,

– he admitted

Caption:
Photo 1… Kasaona FA secured three points after beating DTS.
Photo 2… Kasaona’s FA players were in fine form on Friday.
Photo 3… Riverheights FA and Ramblers drew 1-all at the Jan Möhr football field.
Photos: Ligola Amutenya

Results

SKW b 0-5 Prolific SC U/15
Onaanda FA 1-4WHK Gym U/15
Ramblers 2-2 Riverheights FA U15
Kasaona FA 4-0 DTS U/17
JAFC b 0-2 KFA U/15
DTS 1-1 SKW a U/15
Riverheighta FA 1-1 JAFC U/17
City Pillars 1-6 Dama SA U/17
JAFC 2-1 Kasaona FA U/19
DTS 4-1 City Pillars FA U/19