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Diary of Kotoko’s
Pre-season road show
By David Kyei
With the September 5, 2010 date
for the start of the 2010 Premier league inching closer by each
passing day, the technical team with the fullest support of
management are leaving no stone unturned to get the team in the
right shape before the start.
Saturday, 7 August:
With the registration closed and the team for the next season
known, a contingent of thirty players, the Technical Manager,
ten backroom staff and a journalist from Kotoko Express set off
from Kumasi on Saturday afternoon for Sekondi in the Western
region of Ghana.
Though the ultimate destination
for the training tour is the Western Region, the team made a
stop to sleep at the plush guesthouse of the Institute of
Distance Learning on the University Of Cape Coast campus.
The purpose of the stopover was to
play a match against new entrants to the Premier Division,
Ebusua Dwarfs at the Robert Mensah Stadium.
The shouts of ‘Faabu’ and the
honking of horns with which fans and Taxi drivers greeted the
arrival of the club in Cape Coast clearly pointed to the fact
that Kotoko supporters in the municipality and its surrounding
towns have been starved for a long time of seeing their team
play.
Despite the long journey from
Kumasi to Cape Coast, the technical manager held a meeting with
the players after dinner and at this meeting, he laid out some
camping rules that he wanted to be followed.
He also announced his decision to
come out with a list of players from amongst the team whom he
has nominated to contest for the position of the team captain.
The team had their now regular
evening prayer sessions before retiring into their rooms to
sleep off their tiredness.
Though the nominations had not
been announced yet, the general feeling among the players was
the fact that the contest was going to be a two-horse race
between roommates, Isaac Amoako and Ofosu Appiah.
Sunday, 8 August:
Contingent wakes up in the morning to find early morning
drizzles. This increased in intensity and later turned into a
full blown early morning rain.
Some of the players who did not
walk through the drizzling to get to the restaurant for
breakfast had no option but to make it through the rain, as they
have been admonished not to miss such meetings.
At the breakfast table, the
appetite of the players were increased and their adrenaline for
the afternoon’s match was pushed into sky levels when a member
of the board of directors, Alhaji Bamed, with the permission of
the technical manager made a mouth watering personal pledge of
GH¢3,000 for the players and GH¢1,000 for a win over Dwarfs.
The shouts and the loud and long
applause that greeted the promise if was anything to go by was a
pointer to the fact that the players have accepted the
challenge.
Some two hours to the game, the
team received visitation from the Executive Chairman, Dr. K. K
Sarpong who also topped up the earlier pledge by Alhaji Bamed to
make it a total of GH¢5,000 for the players and GH¢1,500 for the
technical team.
Bereaved Godfred Ofosu who was
unanimously selected by his colleagues as the man of the match
was also given GH¢100 by the Executive chairman and $50 by
Alhaji Bamed.
The team was scheduled to leave
Cape Coast on Monday after breakfast to begin a week of camping
at the Essipong Stadium in Sekondi.
Monday
9 August:
Another sunny day in the Central region and the team after
breakfast set off for the Western region with the destination
being the Essipong Stadium.
In a typical camping environment,
the team checked into the rooms in their groups and rested their
bodies.
Since the rest of the day was an
off duty/ training period for them, they took time off to climb
into the terraces to watch the Western Regional Districts Basic
schools sports festival that was being organised at the stadium.
After dinner, the Technical
manager held a meeting with the team to discuss their programme
for the camping period.
The names of nominees to contest
for the positions of team captain and his assistant were
announced as Isaac Amoako, Ofosu Appiah, Jordan Opoku and
Soulama Abdoulaye.
They were then given green light
to start campaigning and lobbying their colleagues for their
votes.
Then closing session of the
meeting became a fun session as some of the players with Prince
Anokye being the main character demanding of the nominees to
present their campaign teams and manifestoes.
According to him, there was the
need for them to know the members of the various campaign teams
because they wanted to present their demands, conditions, and
terms under which they can be given their votes.
Since there are no TV sets here in
camp, the players requested that indoor games be provided for
them to ease their boredom.
Late into the night, captainship
aspirants were seen visiting rooms of their colleagues all in
their bid to canvass for votes.
Tuesday 10 August:
The team woke up very early in the morning to be able to make
the 6am reporting time for training. With everyone on board the
team bus by 6:10am, they were driven to the beach of Inchaban
where volunteer physical trainer, Charles Olatunde Arosanyin,
took them through exercises he called ‘Power burst”.
They did about forty minutes of
running and along the long beach and did some aerobics and
stretching exercises.
The morning training session got
to its climax when after everything, some of the players decided
to take a dip in the sea to cool off.
Back in camp, the players had
their hot bath and retired into their rooms to rest for the
afternoon’s session.
Per the players’ requests, indoor
games were provided for them after the morning training session.
For the first time in many months,
the favourite paper, Kotoko Express was back on the stands and
players’ complimentary issues were forwarded to them in Sekondi.
Since they were getting a feel of
the paper at first hand for the first time, the newly signed on
players were eager to read to know what news had been written
about them whilst some wanted to see if their photos appeared in
it.
If there is one thing that is
working well for the team and helping in the smooth training and
camping session, it is the strict adherence to time. The players
have been behaving so well.
AT 2:40pm, the players had already
gathered on the training pitch ready for the late afternoon
session.
Since they had a match against
Ajax F/C, a division one side on the nest day, the coaches did
not wear them out too much. Training lasted for exactly one
hour.
Tuesday evening was an eventful
one as after dinner; the players plunged into the election for
their captain.
As a novelty in player politics,
ballot papers were printed and players were actually entreated
to thumb print for the one they want.
At the end of the secret ballot,
Jordan Opoku pulled a surprise win by claiming half of the total
votes cast over the pre-election favourite, Isaac Amoako.
Wednesday 11 August:
Probably as a
divine approval for the pre-season tour of the team, it rains on
the morning of match days and today was no exception.
After the rains, the players took
a walk about since the morning had been declared free, ahead of
the afternoon’s match.
The match ended 3-0 for Kotoko but
the looks on their faces of some of the players was a clear
manifestation that they were not enthused with the number of
goals scoring chances they wasted.
Later in the evening, it was
announced that they would play Venomous Vipers at the Robert
Mensah Stadium in Cape Coast on Friday and then against Tudu
Mighty Jets at the Gyandu Park on Sunday before leaving for
Kumasi on Monday.
Thursday 12 August:
Days after matches are normally declared free days for rest and
Thursday was no exception. However, having had enough rest for
the day, they went into the terraces to enjoy the inter district
Basic Schools Athletics meet at the stadium.
Others too went for private
sessions at the stadium gym and some also played the indoor
games available.
With the attacking options reduced
due to the incapacitation of Kwadwo Poku, young striker, Kwame
Boateng, was recalled from the youth team in Kumasi to join the
seniors in Sekondi.
Friday
13 August:
Though the team had a match against Venomous Vipers at the
Robert Mensah Stadium later in the afternoon, they had had one
hour of training at the Essipong training field. The emphasis of
the exercise was on the utilisation of set pieces and shooting.
With enough sweat shed for a
morning, they retired to the comfort of their air-conditioned
rooms for a well-deserved rest.
At 10am, the team left for Cape
Coast to honour their practice match date with Vipers.
Though the match was poorly
patronised, it served as a good exercise for both teams as
Vipers tested their preparedness for the division one league.
Kotoko on the other hand was also
tested on their resilience and ability to fight from behind.
In the match, Kotoko took the an
early lead in the 11th minute through fast developing
Kwame Boateng, who out-jumped the vipers defence to skilfully
nod home an Omar Garibar pull out to record the match opener.
Fourteen minutes after the opener,
Vipers got their equalizer when the Kotoko defence was caught
ball watching as a result of indecision.
Vipers jumped into the lead in the
70th minute through a penalty and that was what
Kotoko needed to test their resilience.
As though signalled to fire on all
cylinders, they intensified pressure on the division one
campaigners until their defence caved in to the pressure. In
their determination to hold on to their slim lead, they resorted
to all sorts of both conventional and unconventional strategies.
In an unconventional tactics,
their defender had no choice but to forcefully pull down Edward
Affum who was running dangerously in their eighteen-yard box.
The resultant penalty was
beautifully converted by David Ofei to end the game at 2-2.
Saturday 14 August:
Despite the match the day before, this day was not made a free
day for the team. At 7am, the team was driven to the Gyandu Park
to play a division one side that belongs to the Ghana Navy,
Dolphins F.C.
It was used as an exercise to warm
the players who did not play in the previous day’s match, and
also to give additional time to those who had little playing
time in the match against Vipers.
At the end of the sixty minutes,
Harrif Mohamed and Louis Agyemang (scored a brace) had forced
three goals down their throats, whilst they also pulled one
back.
Sunday
15 August:
The team had a visit from two board members, the Executive
chairman and Alhaji Bahmed on one hand and , Kwame Baah-Nuakoh,
George Dodoo and Ernest Owusu Ansah on the other.
After a brief meeting, the
chairman joined the players at the breakfast table for what has
imprinted so hard on the hearts of the players.
The evening after the 1-1 drawn
game against Mighty Jets was used to wind up and get ourselves
prepared for the journey back home the next day.
Monday
16 August:
A
happy return back home to meet their families and friends in
Kumasi and also have a day’s rest before preparing for the
Otumfuo Tournament.
In all, the trip has been a
success having played five matches in one week and conceded four
goals as against ten scored. |
