We don't replace each other - Papama

...player laughs off ‘fight for spot’ with Rudath suggestion

Namibian international Marcel Papama has laughed off the suggestion that he is involved in a ‘fight for a spot’ with compatriot Wendell Rudath at Botswana club Jwaneng Galaxy.

This suggestion was born from the fact that the two Namibians have not played together in two consecutive Orange FA Cup matches that Galaxy have played recently.

Against Mogoditshane on 24 April, Papama started the match, which went all the way to penalties before the team managed a 4-2 win after a 0-0 regular time draw. For that game, Rudath did not make the playing squad.

The reverse happened on Sunday, as Rudath played in the 2-1 win over Black Forest while Papama failed to make the playing squad.

That gave the appearance that the two players may be involved in a battle for a starting place at Jwaneng Galaxy.

Papama laughed off that suggestion when The PlayMaker reached out to him, shortly after Galaxy’s progress into the quarterfinals of the Orange FA Cup on Sunday.

“No brother, it isn’t that way at all,” he said from his base in Botswana.

“We are five foreigners [in the team] and only three must be in the squad. So we just rotate like that. And in three consecutive league games we have been playing together. He [Rudath] rested that FA cup game [against Mogoditshane] and I rested this one,” he explained.

In fact, the pair played together during a 2-0 win over Sua Flamingoes last Wednesday; a match that saw Rudath scoring his 13th league goal with a free kick from distance.

With passage into the Orange FA Cup safely secured, Papama is looking forward to making more headway in the competition.

Reflecting on how far the team hopes to go in the tournament, he simply said, “all the way to the finals.”

They are likely to face Gaborone United, where fellow countryman Kennedy Amutenya plays, with the other bastion of Namibian players Masitaoka already eliminated from the cup.

Amutenya scored his first goal for Gaborone United in a 5-0 win over Calendar Stars to also reach the quarterfinals, with that draw showing that the Namibians may only meet in the final.

“We are ready to face any team, but for sure playing against Gaborone United will be a good game,” the midfielder said of that possibility.

Great experience

Papama, who recently turned 26, also looked back at the experience of playing in the CAF Champions League where Galaxy played against African heavyweights in Esperance de Tunis (Tunisia), Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia) and CR Belouizdad (Algeria).

Playing against the North Africans was a “very good experience”, the midfielder said, before looking at the lessons he learnt during the three matches he played in the CAF Champions League group stages.

“Most of those teams are ball playing teams. They like moving the ball around. So that really requires you to be disciplined in terms of defending and when you have the ball, you must also try to keep it for as long as you can. And you must make use of the chances you create because those guys won’t leave you alive,” he stated.

The odds of Galaxy returning to the CAF Champions League next season look slim though, as they are currently third in the Botswana Premier League (BPL).

Gaborone United are leading the standings on 61 points from 25 games played, while Township Rollers are second on 59 points with 26 matches.

Galaxy are on 49 points from 24 games.