NPL beckons for Julinho and Ntunguru

REHOBOTH, 15 AUG  – Ntunguru Football Club and Julinho Sporting has sharpened their knives in anticipation for the two-legged title decider of the North East First Division (NEFD), slated for this weekend.
Pool A winners Ntunguru and Pool B winners Julinho Sporting will square off against each other to determine the team that will be promoted to the Namibia Premier League (NPL).
Julinho will first play at home at the Rundu Sport Stadium on Saturday at 16h00, while the return leg will be played at the home of Ntunguru in Shinyungwe at the John Mutorwa Stadium on Sunday at 11h00.
The winner will join Southern Stream First Division winners, Young Brazilians from Karasburg in the NPL for the 2018/2019 season.
Captain of Ntunguru, Frans Ndara told Nampa on Tuesday that the ultimate aim is to be promoted to the NPL.
“Our preparations for the match are going well and we can’t wait for the matches to take place as we aim for promotion to the elite league of the country.”
He added his team will approach the matches the same way it has been doing all season.
“Although it won’t be easy, we will try and get maximum points. We had a tough season with a lot of challenges, but with teamwork we overcame it and the matches are just another challenge we will deal with positively,” Ndara remarked.
Julinho Sporting team manager, Nelson Luiz said on Tuesday they have fought all the way and will fight till the very end.
“We have fought to be where we are today and we cannot come this far just to go back empty-handed. We want to go back to the NPL, as we feel we need to be competing with the best teams in the country,” he said.
The bulk of the players that were part of the NPL, he noted, are still with the team.
“We have the experience of the players that were part of our two seasons in the NPL before we were relegated. I believe their experience will carry us through the play-off matches,” he said.
The team collecting more points from the two-legged play-offs will qualify for the NPL and in the event of both teams ending on equal points, the team that scored the most away goals will go through.
Having survived relegation by a single point in the 2014/2015 season, Julinho along with Flamingoes and United Stars were relegated at the end of the 2015/2016 season.
NAMPA