Defending league champions, Aduana Stars,
will walk on a tight robe on Sunday when they trek to Kumasi to
face the steadily rising Kotoko team for the week 21 fixture of
the Glo Premier League.
The Dormaa based side posted a 2-0 win over
the Porcupines in the first round of the competition. As they
visit the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, the choruses on the lips of
Kotoko sympathizers is nothing but revenge, revenge, revenge!
Aduana Stars have been in the news for both
good and bad reasons lately. They crashed out of the preliminary
stage of the CAF Champions League and followed it up with a 0-0
draw at home to Liberty Professionals – a result that set
supporters of the club against their Coach Herbert Addo.
The Dormaa team however put aside all the
bad publicity around them to beat Abusua Dwarfs on penalties to
eliminate the Cape Coast club from the MTN FA Cup last week.
The mood in their camp is thus high so they
have vowed to cause an upset in Kumasi this weekend.
Kotoko however see Aduana Stars’ plan to
overpower them in Kumasi as wishful thinking. The Porcupines are
in good shape. In fact, they are better organized than they were
the last time they faced the Dormaa side in November 2010.
Coach Bogdan Korak watched that encounter
from the stands and gave a miserable post match assessment of
the Kotoko team. The Serbian has however been transforming the
team, week in, week out.
Sunday’s game offers a very good chance for
the Kotoko fraternity to evaluate how well the transformational
work done by Bogdan Korak has gone.
Kotoko’s preparation ahead of Sunday’s clash
suffered a little jolt with the last minute decision by the
Ghana Football Association (GFA) to reschedule for the second
time, the club’s MTN FA Cup match at home to division one side,
Deportivo FC. That rearrangement no matter how late did not
truncate Kotoko’s training schedule for the week.
A trial match at Tarkwa by the reserve side,
which they won 3-0 followed by another practice match by the
senior team on Wednesday afternoon served good purposes for the
technical team. They used both matches to sharpen their arsenals
for the Aduana duel.
On the league log, Aduana are 3rd placed
with 31 points whereas Kotoko are 6th positioned with 28 points.
A win for Kotoko who have a better goal
difference of four against Aduana’s three will see the
Porcupines moving three places up on the ladder that is if New
Edubease and Ashgold drop guard. The Kotoko technical team is
very much at home with what to do to nail their opponents.
Assistant Coach Prince Acheampong told
Kotoko Express on Wednesday that their approach to the game has
already been defined.
“Aduana
is a strong side” he first admitted. “They are in excellent
form. Our team is also taking shape. We know they will pack more
men at the back and also in the middle, and strike on the break.
We also know what to do but I cannot put that out. It is a must
win game for Kotoko” said the coach.
There are no injury headaches for Coach
Bogdan Korak and his team. The recovery of striker Ahmed Toure
from a thigh injury comes as a major boost to Coach Korak’s
attacking strategy.
If goalkeeper, Isaac Amoako and backline
likely to have Yaw Frimpong, Prince Anokye, Awal Mohammed and
Ohene Brenya can guarantee maximum protection, Michael Akuffu,
Nii Adjei, Frank Boateng and Fatawu Mohammed in midfield may
also not have problems supporting the attack with their firm
organization, cutting edge passes and crosses into the goal
area.
Three players – Mohammed Sabato, Albert
Bruce and Nathaniel Asamoah have been out of camp for greater
part of this week, attending to their respective national team
training sessions.
They are however back in Kumasi to join
their colleagues. If Sabato Mohammed returns in fine form, he
could well start as a left back instead of Prince Anokye who
struggled to be impressive at Bekwai.
Nathaniel Asamoah, Alex Asamoah, Nafiu
Idrissu and Ahmed Toure are the obvious choices for the
attacking role. The pair of the two Asamoah's in the starting
line-up looks possible but with the Ivorian forward scoring this
week coupled with the remarkable strength he has so far
displayed, Coach Bogdan Korak could start him while making Alex
Asamoah a substitute.
But for a late minute goal by Daniel Nii
Adjei, Aduana Stars would have secured a 0-0 result the last
time they visited Kumasi. Not much seems to have changed in
their team. The danger they posed last season at the Baba Yara
Sports Stadium is still prevalent. Kotoko ought to take them on
with a superior tactical force, aggression and put them where
them to sleep.
