Stars won’t have an easy game: Kanalelo

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University of Namibia (UNAM) Football Club coach Ronnie Kanalelo says he has a youthful squad that is hungry to prove themselves when they step onto the field of play on Sunday.

The Debmarine Namibia Premiership will kick off its 2022/23 season on Sunday with UNAM taking on African Stars at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Olympia at 17h00.

In an interview with Nampa on Thursday, Kanalelo said despite his players’ inexperience with Association Football they are ready to give it their all.

“Our goal is to play good football on Sunday. We know that African Stars have experienced players but they will not have an easy game when they take us on. Our boys are hungry to prove themselves therefore they will give it their all on match day,” he said.

He added that as a club they have taken an approach of developing the next generation of players for Namibia, hence the reason they signed players who will be making their first appearances in Premier League football.

“We are bringing new ways of training and you might be well aware that most of the players in the country are talented, but they lack a tactical aspect which we the coaches are now drilling through. We also thought that there is nothing to achieve by signing players who have been in the game already but had a four-year absence from active football,” Kanalelo said.

Kanalelo has a squad of 23 players with the oldest being around 25 years old.

“After a month of training with the team, we are happy with their performance. We had a game last month playing a team that had fast players and our boys found the going tough, but that was a learning experience they needed. So come Sunday we expect them to not make silly mistakes that will cost us the game,” Kanalelo said adding that with their current budget they cannot afford to sign big names as that will deplete their budget.

After three years without football, the first game of the 2022/23 Premier League season will kick off on Sunday after Debmarine Namibia last month announced a sponsorship of N.dollars 13 million for this football season.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency