Kofi Owusu Aduonum
22 July 2008
The sort of vengeance brewing in the camp of Asante Kotoko ahead of their CAF Confederation Cup second leg against Libyan giants, Al-Ittihad, can easily sink a ship.
Indeed, if that is anything to go by then the newly crowned Ghanaian champions start as the favourites. Barely a fortnight ago, the Ghanaians displayed sheer soccer brilliance but eventually lost by 1-2, to their Libyan counterparts in Tripoli. Kotoko, however, felt cheated in the said match and they have decided to seek their vengeance on the field of play.
The away goal, courtesy burly striker Kwabena Yaro, seem to have served as enough motivation for Kotoko to salvage victory form the jaws of defeat.
But Kotoko's failure to hold on to their 2-0 lead against city rivals, King Faisal, in their coronation match which ended 2-2 last Sunday has left doubts in the minds of many, whether Kotoko can prove equal to the continental assignment. Happenings from the Garden City, Kumasi, has established that Kotoko have put Sunday's not-impressive performance into the dustbin of history and are putting their house in order, to enable them advance to the next stage of the competition.
The absence of skipper Emmanuel Osei Kuffuor, who was red carded in the first leg will affect the team in a way. However, if Stephen Oduro gains first shirt, he will be expected to keep current goal king, Eric Bekoe, K. Yaro and others in constant supply with his brilliant services.
As to whether versatile defender Harrison Afful, currently on trials with Dutch side, Feyenoord, will be available is a question crying for answer by fans of the 'Red Army'.
But young Sekyere, another product of Feyernood Academy has proven over the weeks that he can be relied upon when the going gets tough.
The Porcupine Warriors fought from a goal down to kick out Nigeria's Dolphins FC from the competition the last time they embarked on a continental assignment before home crowd.
The Libyans have majority of their players in their senior national soccer side, The Greens, and they equally appear confident to pull a surprise.
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