Namibia's National Youth Team Win Tournament In Ghana
Namibia's national youth soccer team touring Ghana continue to rake up some impressive results as they were crowned champions of a Marcel Desailly Cup in Accra on Sunday afternoon.
The Namibian youth team, comprising of Under-17 and Under-20 players and coached by Turipamue Upi last week played to a 2-2 draw against Eastland FC with Orlando Pirates striker Terdius Uiseb and Tura Magic right back Salom Pamp scoring for the Namibians.
They followed that up with a narrow 1-0 defeat on Saturday against Hero Stars, a team owned and coached by former Ghanaian international Yaw Preko.
On Sunday, the team took part in an encounter against the Marcel Desailly select-side which included professional players out of contract or on holiday in Ghana and after a goalless 90 minutes and a penalty miss by Pamp, the Namibian youth team won 5-4 in the post-match shoot-out and were presented with a winners trophy of the match.
According to Namibian team manager Jakes Amaning, the team will be coming back home this weekend and the tour has been a success thus far.
“We have been involved in some high profile games against local sides here and the players have shown some great improvement in their game and they are getting better with each game they play. It is a great experience for the team and going forward, we hope to see these players graduate into the senior national team soon,” he said.
Meanwhile the team was invited by an American Lincoln Community School in Accra for a coaching clinic with former FIFA Under-17 Player of the Year in 1991 Nii Lamptey and Mohammed Gargo.
Amaning says Lamptey, who played for Aston Villa, Coventry City and PSV Eindhoven in Europe in his heyday, had been spending time with the Namibian team for the past three days, while Gargo, also won the Under-17 World Cup with Lamptey in 1991 and went on to captain Italian club Udinese and also played for Borussia Dortmund in Germany.