Alweendo stars as Gunners win NFA Cup 

Mighty Gunners won the women’s NFA Cup title on Saturday after a 4-0 victory against Khomas Nampol and a superb performance by their national striker Leena Alweendo.

The match was evenly balanced midway through the first half, but Alweendo put the issue beyond doubt with a brilliant hat trick within only seven minutes.

Khomas Nampol made a strong start and with captain Thomalina Adams leading their charge they came close to scoring in the opening stages. 

An Adams shot after only three minutes went narrowly wide, while a long range free kick by Iina Katuta was just tipped over for a corner by Gunners keeper Melissa Matheus. Adams once again came close when her volley from a Helena Shuumbwa cross went narrowly wide, and they were made to pay for their wastefulness when Alweendo took the game by the scruff of the neck.

She gave Gunners the lead after half an hour when she latched onto a long ball to put the ball into the left hand corner, and then five minutes later made it 2-0 when she beat the defence to score from close range. 

Alweendo wasn’t done though, and two minutes later she completed her hat trick, displaying sheer strength as she fought off a challenge by Iina Katuta to put the ball into the back of the net. 

That put Mighty Gunners 3-0 up at half time, but Nicole Philander put the issue beyond doubt when she lobbed the ball over Khomas Nampol keeper Fenni Mwalunga into an empty net. 

Alweendo continued to terrorise Nampol’s defence with her strong runs and crosses from the right wing, while Millicent Hikuam, Fiola Vliete and Helena Amwandangi all came close to scoring as Gunners turned on the screws. 

Nampol also had a few chances but Gunners keeper Matheus brought off some fine saves, tipping a Metutjo Tjivikua shot for a corner and pulling off a point blank save to deny Hileni Kambonde. 

Gunners’ technical advisor Woody Jacobs said all the credit goes to his players. 

“I will not attribute this win to me, I was just able to help along the way. When this opportunity arose and Salome (Iyambo) spoke to me I jumped at the opportunity, because I was free to do it, but credit goes to the players, they are a remarkable bunch of players. The fact that they didn’t concede in all four rounds up to the final speaks volumes about the team and their attitude and their desire to win things,” he said. 

“We also have some quality players who were in the national squad that won the Cosafa Cup earlier this year so we had a lot of experience and special qualities in the side,” he added. 

He said they got off to a sluggish start.

“In the beginning, they were a little bit lacklustre and almost let Nampol in but some good goalkeeping and some last-ditch defending, as well as some missed chances from Nampol allowed us to take control of the game.

Once we started creating chances, we took them and I said to Leena, she’s the future of Namibian football. If you look at the attributes that she has, she’ll play a long time for Namibia and I think also she’ll go and dominate our football, even playing abroad, I have no doubt about that. I’m just happy for them, especially after they missed out on the league so all the credit goes to them for the way they fought,” he said. 

Julinho Athletic, meanwhile, won the third place playoff after beating Windhoek City 4-2. 

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