By: David Kyei, Zlatibor, Serbia

Date: 11-08-11

The long talked about training tour of Serbia has happened to put a big ‘shut up’ on the ‘against’ people who have for many weeks teased and speculated that it had been cancelled.

The team is camped at Zlatibor in the plush mountainous sited Hotel Olimp and the contingent has been loving it here.

But before the team finally touched base here, a lot of interesting issues pertaining to making it on the first batch and also first time flyers on the contingent happened for the fun of it that is worth sharing and laughing about.

First it has to do with the information that got to the team that we would have flight difficulties as Turkish Airlines was having difficulty to find seats for the whole contingent.

It therefore meant that the contingent had to fly in two batches and that was where the fun and interest began.

For fear that they might not make the first batch and the apprehension that went with it, some of the players decided to suspend dressing in their immaculate white shirts over black trousers and red ties until there were very sure that they would make it in the first batch.

Though they finally did dress after insistence of Operations Manager, Ernest Owusu Ansah, their hearts were still not at ease until we got to the airport to get the information that twenty-five seats have been secured and this was in contrast to the earlier information that only sixteen people could be flown.

With that cleared, the next interest of the day was in respect of the apprehension of the first time flyers.

Per my count, six members of the contingent, four players, a technical man and a supporter were first time flyers and the anxiety on their faces was interesting to note.

Going through the immigration processes at the Kotoka Airport went well and the Turkish Airlines flight TK 624 was on schedule as we took off at 21:45 GMT.

Before the flight even started to taxi on the runway, the frequent flyers in the contingent had taken positions waiting to see the reaction of the first time flyers.

However, they did not express any fears nor showed any sign of fright for the eight hours flight from Accra through Lagos to Istanbul.

What probably might have raked a disappointment to the first timers was the quantity of food served on the flight.

Besides the quantity, the meal which was a traditional Turkish custard-based food with herbs did not sit well with them. They therefore had to resort to eating only the bread as an accompaniment to the orange juice served.

Sunday, 7^th August: Contingent arrives safely in Istanbul Airport on a two hour transit and it gave the players the opportunity to stretch their limbs and also feast their eyes in the trendy and latest electronic and fashionable items in Europe.

Exactly 13:15 local time (10:15 GMT), the contingent was airborne on another Turkish Airways flight for the final lap of the journey to Belgrade, Serbia.

If there was any point in time on the trip that the contingent had scary encounters whilst airborne, it was some twenty minutes to landing in Serbia.

The pilots poorly handled their descent into Belgrade that everyone on the flight was seen clinging onto their seat in fright as the drop in altitude by the pilot was too sudden.

It was therefore not a surprise that the contingent plunged into spontaneous clapping when the plane finally touched down.

Kotoko’s real difficulty on the trip was had to do with the Serbian immigration who seemed not to recognize the group visa that the team was travelling on. For well over thirty minutes, the leaders of contingent argued it out with the immigration officials until they decided to take them to meet their boss.

At the boss’ office too, it took almost an hour of conviction to get him to agree that the visa leaflets printed and handed to the members of contingent be collected and taken to the immigration headquarters in Belgrade for authentication.

Monday, 8 August 2011: Having arrived at Zlatibor late (after 11pm Serbia time) of Sunday, the contingent tried to have a good rest to relax the bodies that have seen so much tiredness over the last twenty-four hours.

An hour after breakfast, the team was taken to the Zlatibor training complex to have a shake up to ease the pressure on their muscles.

From training, the players went into their rooms to rest again. They only came out of their rooms for lunch and a few minutes of walk about.

The weather condition was very harsh as energy sapping high sun was on with the temperature for the day ranging between 36º-38 ºC. it was therefore not a surprise to see almost the whole inhabitants (especially the women) of the town of Zlatibor walking about in the tiniest of dresses they could find. The swimming pool of Olimp Hotel was another hotspot as it was full of tourists looking for an avenue to cool off.

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to getting ready for the afternoon’s match which eventually took place with Kotoko losing by 2-4.

For the first time in the football career of the Ghanaians on the contingent, the referee for the Kotoko-Sevojno, Nenad Petrovic, called for a ‘time out’ to enable the players of the two team cool off from the heat.

Kotoko players became the target of football agents who came to watch the match with FK Sevojno themselves expressing interest in five of the players.

Tuesday, 9 August: The contingent from this morning started monitoring the movement of the Executive Board Chairman who was billed to arrive in Serbia later in the day.

There were two training sessions today. The morning session was for players who did not play at all yesterday and those who played but did less than sixty minutes. Emphasis was on tactics and shooting.

To help the team out on the tour has been Coach Nebojsa Petrovic, a long time friend of Bogdan Korak. The two Serbian coaches have been training the team since.

The afternoon’s training session had all the players joining in to prepare for Wednesdays match against FC Metalac G. Milanovac at Zlatibor.

Around 7pm Serbia time, the Executive Chairman, Dr. K. K Sarpong and his contingent of Ms. Anastasia Akuoku (Legal advisor), Jerry Asare (FA relations manager), Owusu-Ansah (Operations Manager), Nana Kwame Dankwah (Circles P.R.O), Patrick Ofori (Psychologist), Stephen Oduro, David Ofei, Afranie Yeboah and Prince Domfeh  arrived.

 Wednesday, 10 August: It is a match day and right from the morning, determination to win today’s match against FC Metalac G. Milanovac could be seen on the faces of the players.

An hour after breakfast, the players who arrived on Tuesday were joined by a few other players for morning training session. The rest of the players are billed to play in this afternoon’s match.

Team psychologist, Patrick Ofori since the morning went round the rooms of the players to hold individual meetings with them to first ascertain their problems and secondly psyche them up for the day’s match which promised to be tough one.

After the success of the evenings match, the players had a good appetite to eat their dinner and the general feeling has been high since.

With the two matches cleared, the players say they are determined to make a good mark in Serbia .

Thursday, 11 August: Team undertakes two training sessions. Those who played more than seventy minutes were rested in the morning but joined their colleagues for full swing training session in the evening.