The growing
rivalry between Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Dormaa-based Aduana
Stars will further be deepened next week Wednesday, April 6,
when the two teams battle in a potentially fierce contest in the
1/16th stage of the MTN FA Competition at the Baba Yara Sports
Stadium.
Nearly two
seasons after joining the country’s elite football league,
Aduana Stars has established themselves not alone as bogey side
to Asante Kotoko at their Dormaa grounds but also a real force
to reckon with.
A famous 1-0 win
over Kotoko at Dormaa last season when they won the league title
straight from division one, coupled with an emphatic 2-0 triumph
in the first round of this season are their best records against
Kotoko.
Kotoko however
proved stronger and mightier than the Dormaa team some weeks
back when they gave them a 3-0 thrashing in the second round
league match in Kumasi.
Aduana Stars’
return to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium next week is one that not
many of their passionate followers are pleased with. For reasons
best known to them, the Dormaa fans started expressing their
resentment over the fixture in Kumasi long before the Porcupine Warriors even
eliminated stubborn division one opponents, Deportivo FC to set
up a date with Aduana Stars.
Like it or hate
it, the defending league champions have to come for an
inevitable battering, but Kotoko must however be warned not to
be complacent.
Coach Herbert
Addo appears not to have started this year on a pleasant note.
He crashed out of the CHAN competition with the home based Black
Stars in Sudan without a win before leading Aduana Stars’ to an
embarrassing early exit from the CAF Champions League.
That
notwithstanding, Coach Herbert Addo is respected for his
knowledge of the game. He and his team will therefore come
prepared and determined with the sole intention of giving Kotoko
a stern opposition, perhaps never witnessed in the budding
rivalry between the two clubs.
Ahead of this
crunch game, Kotoko have to critically review their show at home
to Deportivo FC and Coach Bogdan Korak must plug gaps in the
team since Aduana Stars could exploit any weaknesses they find
in his team.
Kotoko do not
have to take next Wednesday’s encounter as just another match.
Their dream of defending the title they won 10 years ago when
the competition was last organised hinges on this game and of
course much like the rest of the matches they will play should
they qualify.
The MTN FA Cup
competition in reality offers Kotoko the only chance of grapping
a reputable trophy this season. Expectation from Kotoko
supporters as usual is huge!
For them, no
result will be savoured than a win, and weeks after giving their
bitterest rivals Hearts of Oak a notable bashing in
Accra, another triumph over Aduana Stars
will be very much welcomed.
Other round of 16 matches
Unity Stars vrs Nania FC
All Stars vrs Stake FC
Lions vrs Great Olympics/Edubiase
Universal Stars vrs Wa All Stars
Medeama S/C vrs SP Mirren
Eleven Wise vrs Berekum Friction/Chelsea
D’International/Tema All Stars/Dunkwa Untied v Arsenal
