Kickoff (Cape Town)
23 August 2008
Kumasi Asante Kotoko are the favourites for the pre-season Top 4 competition that kicks off on Sunday.
The Porcupine Warriors may be having a torrid time in the CAF Confederations Cup, especially on their travels, but they have been the best team domestically and will go into the Globacom sponsored competition in the best condition of all the four sides.
The competition, reserved for the top four finishers in the league, has often ignited the domestic scene in the close season but without the lure of a Heart-Kotoko tie, some of the shine may have been taken off.
While that may be true of the interest in the competition and the effect on the numbers in the stands, it is unlikely to affect the quality of the football because Liberty, Arsenals and Heart of Lions were head and shoulders above Hearts of Oak in the League on the field.
Kotoko's favourite status stems not only from the way they dominated the competition, but also from the manner they have been the most active side in the close season.
While some of their strongest competitors have spent the close season selling their key players, the Porcupine Warriors have been going on with business as usual with the Confederations Cup. Their involvement in that will give them an edge beginning tomorrow in their game at the Baba Yara Stadium against Berekum Arsenals.
Kotoko may have one eye on their Confederations Cup game at the same venue next week, but they will need a good performance to convince their teeming fans to turn up in the stadium for the big one and in Kumasi that matters a lot.
The other game on the opening day will be at the Ohene Djan Stadium with Liberty Professionals taking on Kpandu Heart of Lions.
For Lions the Top four serves a simple purpose.
"We want to do well but the main aim is to use this competition to try out some of our new players and test a lot of things before the season starts," the club's coach Oti Akenteng told KickOffGhana.com.
Lions have sold as many as ten players, so don't expect them to play with the same sort of fluidity the showed in their remarkable season.
Liberty Professionals are used to replacing their best players and Jones Attuquayefio has hinted the Top 4 will serve a similar purpose. It is after all what pre-season tournaments are noted for.
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