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 Baffour
Gyan promises a better second round
By David Kyei
16:10 GMT, 15-01-2010
Having successfully staged a re-launch of his career thanks to a
lifeline by African club of the century, Fantabulous Asante
Kotoko FC, Ghanaian international, Baffour Gyan says he is
bracing himself for a better second round.
After a show of glimpses of the aggressive and attack minded
character that made him an integral part of senior national
team, the Black Stars, in the Kessben Fc –Kotoko match, Baffour
says he was on the road to full recovery and that time was going
to be his judge.
According to him, he started the season on a 30% capacity and
that he was steadily making progress.
“If you asked me, I would say I have hit the over 50% mark and
hopes to work harder to get to a minimum of 70% performance
capacity. I am not under any pressure to impress and so I am
picking my pace one at a time”.
On the performance pf the team in the match against Kessben Fc,
Baffour, who basically cooked the move for Francis Coffie to
finish off with a welcome equalizer, says he was happy that his
colleagues was increasingly understanding the need for them to
fight hard even when down by a goal.
“Before, our players easily gave up when frustrated by a goal or
even a referee, but now, a new story is being written. We now
fight and one would observe from our second half play that we
were totally on top just that once again, we did not have the
luck to finish up”.
“I don not have any idea as to what could be causing us all the
near misses, but having played football at the highest level, I
would say that it does happen in football and that it takes
patience on the part of the fans and the players to overcome”.
He therefore called fans to exercise a bit of restraints and
patience in their demands and expectations of the team since
that indirectly had a pressure effect on the team, hence the
many mistakes that the comparatively younger players make in
matches.
Having not played actively for a little over a year and a half
until some ten weeks ago when he started playing with Kotoko,
Baffour says he was happy that his performance was coming up
match after match and that he hoped to be at full fitness and
conditioning before the start of the second round.
This road to recovery, he also says has been given a big boost
by the one month break of the league.
“I hope to use the one month period to get my rhythm back and I
can assure fans of Kotoko that the second round would be served
coolly for them with joy”.
Though he signed on a s a player to compete for position in the
team on an equal level, Baffour has also turned out to be a
major source of inspiration to his colleague, and this job he
says he loves doing.
“There is no question about the fact that I have seen more
action in top flight football than almost all of my colleagues,
so it is always important that I step in to psych the players up
when they are down”
“We have been having series of meetings and these have been
helping to get the players in the right frame of mind for
matches. Before I even joined Kotoko, I had made the who Ghana
know that I was a fan and so whatever I do as a player with a
big heart for the club is to do my best to get the team going”.
This display of love for the club has not been oblivious to the
head coach as he speaks so well of the player.
“Baffour is an important player to my team. His disciplinary
record and comportment at training and in camp is exemplary”.
“Though he is not fully fit, he has been fighting and working
hard during matches I am very happy with that. My only wish is
to get him into fitness early for the second round where we
would be firing on all cylinders,” Paa Kwesi eulogized Baffour. |
