Fairytale debut by young Fug - 09/11/09
Last week Andre Fug, a 17 year old schoolboy, received an invitation from the SKW coaching trio to join the Cymot SKW NPL team at their training sessions. Fug, who played for the Cymot SKW U17 team over the past two seasons was recommended to the NPL coaches Richard Starke and Rolf Beiter by their co-coach Lucky Kakuva who also doubles as SKW’s U17 coach.
The reason for this unexpected call-up was the injury of two of the three registered NPL keepers, Harry Januarie and Ecresol Kongoro. Starke, who is also currently the chairman of Cymot SKW, got the permission from the NFA and NPL to include the 17 year old boy in the squad. Andre showed some good form during SKW’s training sessions and was consequently thrown into the deep end by the coaching trio - a starting line-up place against Civics last Friday night!
Come Friday night the youngster showed some pre-match nerves and his inexperience showed when he had to be told what to do at the pre-match inspection. Following some calming words from his more experience team mates Andre took his place between the sticks and showed why the trust bestowed on him by his coaches was not misplaced.
Listening to and being guided by the back four of Warren Neidel (later named man of the match), Sheldon du Plessis, Gunther von Hundelshausen and Ralph Ellinger, Andre showed a very good overall performance and made some vital saves to keep his team in the game with only 10 minutes left on the clock. His dream debut continued when his captain Sledge Gowaseb scored a spectacular winner for SKW shortly before the final whistle.
The end of the game however did not signal the end of Andre’s dream debut. NFA Technical Director Klaus Stärk, a spectator that evening, came down to the touch line after the game and congratulated Andre on his performance and also informed him of his call-up to the U20 national team squad.
Asked to comment afterwards Andre simply said that he wants to keep his feet firmly on the ground and take his opportunities as they come his way.
In more news from the SKW camp, Pitzi Eichhoff made a welcome return to Cymot SKW after completing his studies in Germany. Eichhoff had a fine debut for SKW this season, running tirelessly down the left wing and providing numerous pinpoint crosses to his strikers. Eichhoff showed that he had not lost his touch and made his intentions clear that this will not be his last 90min for his team.
Also, one of last season’s top performers, Chepela Chepela finally overcame his hamstring injury to re-claim his starting line-up position. One could immediately see that “Chippa” as he is called by his teammates, is back and will once again be one of the most valuable players in the squad this season.