Friday, 07 September 2012

Written by William Katawa

YAMBIO - The issue of two teams bearing the same name will soon be a problem of the past for the Wehidah of Yambio and the Wehidah of Nzara. The teams faced each other on Sunday August 26, in Nzara county. Hundreds of fans turned up to enjoy the show. The friendly match had been organised in order to test their ability. The plan is to unify the two groups, and to come up with a satisfactory team that will be based in Yambio.

The match ended 2-1 in favour of the visiting Wehidah team of Yambio. The first goal came only in the second half of the game, when Yoasa Bennson of Wehidah Yambio scored by header with a direct pass from Simon John. His superb goal was followed by a second one in favour of the team, when captain Taku Tikito scored after doudging all the defenders. He then won a one-on-one confrontation with the enemy goalkeeper and put the ball at the back of the net. The counter goal for Wehidah Nzara, scored by Giden, came after 90 minutes in extra time.

Speaking to the New Nation the coach of Wehidah Yambio, John Pee, said that the purpose of playing this friendly match was to select good players for the mother team, that will be a representative of both teams. The mother team will be based in Yambio.

Many among the fans have complained, asking that the two teams be given different names if they want to go on playing separately. Pee disagreed: “This is not what we want. We need those teams to retain their names, and we want them to remain as an academy to the mother team”. He also added that in this way, whenever there is a shortage of players, they will always be able to call for support from the teams. At the moment, there is no funding available to finance the new club’s activities.

Captain Taku of Wehidah Yambio commented: “I am grateful for being born in Nzara. I started my football career from here, and here is where I was selected by the club where I now play for the mother team in Yambio”. He added: “In the shortest time I have built up a big number of fans. And whenever I play, they always cheer me up”.  Talking about the match with Wehidah Nzara, he said: “When I faced the goalkeeper, I thought it was a different person. But then I was there, and I realized that all the people where cheering with my name! That is something very encouraging”.

The commissioner of Nzara county, Elia Box, appreciated the visit of Wehidah Yambio to the county. He also invited the home team to make a return leg match in Yambio. Another reason to be happy, he added, was that in the past any visit by the other team to Nzara county would end up in a fight, whereas this time everything went well. “This shows maturity and mind development”, Box said.

In the meantime, in Yambio Freedom Square another game attracted a good number of spectators. The challenge involved the junior teams of Rock City and Nile City. The match ended with four goals to two in favour of Nile City.

Interviewed after the match, the captain of Rock City Edwin Sam put the blame for the loss on the fact that many of his most experienced players where injured. “We played well, but we lost”, he said.

“Some of our best players, like Joel Taban, were absent. Moreover, the rain also contributed to our defeat, because my players are not used used to play in these conditions”, stressed the captain