WINDHOEK: African Stars coach, Ronny Kanalelo, aims to collect as many points as possible in their remaining league fixtures if they are to stand a chance of retaining the Debmarine Namibia Premiership title.
African Stars are currently in second place on the Premier League standings with 44 points, having played 21 games so far. They are just one point behind the league leaders, FC Ongos, who are on 45 points but have a game in hand.
In an interview with Nampa on Wednesday, Kanalelo said they aim to win their last league game against FC Ongos after collecting maximum points from their remaining nine fixtures.
‘Since I joined the team, we have been working on certain areas, and the responses from the players have been positive. In the game against Tigers on Sunday, we took a defensive approach but managed to break through at times, despite struggling with the final attack,’ he said.
Kanalelo added that when African Stars played against his former club UNAM, they were exposed in certain hence the reason th
ey are now focusing on fixing the little issues in certain positions for them to collect maximum points when the team is performing at its best.
‘Even though Stars has been winning games and playing well, there was a struggle to find the right balance, particularly in the midfield. With our sights now set on winning the remaining games we are working on the phases where the team has struggled,’ said Kanalelo.
The African Stars coach added that he is not concerned about the chasing teams in the Premier League, but rather the goal is to fight for the title.
‘I don’t want to worry about the teams that are 10 points behind us, and my focus is not on the bottom teams. All we have to do is not allow the two top teams to create a gap between themselves and us. Our goal is to win all the games and also the last league game against FC Ongos,’ he said.
Kanalelo stated that winning their remaining games will not be easy, but he believes his squad has the mentality and experience to retain the title they won during t
he 2022/23 Debmarine Namibia Premiership season.
This weekend, African Stars will host Julinho Sporting and Okakarara Young Warriors at Nau-Aib Stadium in Okahandja on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency