By: Jerome Otchere

Date: 21-10-11

Kumasi Asante Kotoko will surely like to continue their sterling performance in the 2011/2012 Glo Premier League when they engage newly promoted side, Bechem United on Sunday at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium. Kotoko are the away team because Bechem United have adopted the Kumasi stadium as their home venue. That must give Kotoko more comfort as they face the bottom club in the third week of the new league season.

Bechem United has been saddled with a myriad of problems right from the start of the season. And from all indications Kotoko look set to compound the woes of the struggling Brong Ahafo regional side that are yet to secure a point. Anything can happen in football but pundits of the game are contending that Bechem United lack the strength to battle Kotoko to triumph.

That view of the pundits must however not deceive the Porcupine Warriors who last Sunday thumped Ashantigold 3-0 at the same venue. Bechem United first lost 2-3 at home to New Edubiase before travelling to Cape Coast to be beaten 2-0 by Ebusua Dwarfs. And to worsen their plight, their Serbian trainer, Miloslav Bogdanovic quit earlier this week citing supporters’ threat to physically attack him.

That notwithstanding, Bechem United will not be without a coach on Sunday as former Bofoakwa and All Blacks player, Nana Andy Senason has come in as the stop-gap coach. Whether Nana Andy Senason, who was a member of Eleven Wise’s technical team when they returned to the Premiership three seasons ago, can lead the Bechem club to shock the Porcupine fraternity remains to be seen this weekend.

Everything seems to be in Kotoko’s favour but the fabulous team must be cautious in their approach to the game as any sense of complacency could spell danger. The talk from Kotoko’s camp since their sweet win over Ashantigold suggests that the Porcupines would not take Bechem United for granted. Coach Maxwell Konadu started talking about his side preparedness to eschew complacency immediately after the Ashantigold encounter ended.

Developments at the Adako Jachie training ground also confirm Konadu’s assertion that there is no point in underrating the opposing side. It has not only been Coach Maxwell Konadu who has been talking about the need to steer clear of complacency ahead of Sunday’s clash. His players have as well been advancing the same argument.

Young striker, Michael Mensah and intelligent left back, Abdul Rahman Baba stressed that point when they both spoke to Kotoko Express after Wednesday’s trial match against Asokwa based division one side, Deportivo FC. Whereas Michael Mensah featured in that match, Rahman did not but they maintained in their interviews that Bechem would not be mincemeat on Sunday.

“It will be a tough game. We cannot underrate them. They are a Premier side like Kotoko. We have to take them on as we did in the case of Tema Youth and Ashantigold” said Rahman. “We are aware of the threat some of these so-called clubs can pose. We cannot underrate them. If we do that our spirit could go down and they could overtake us” added Michael Mensah.

These statements from the two players fully represent the feeling of all the players irrespective of who is likely to be featured on Sunday. Kotoko Express cannot sufficiently rely on the Deportivo match to determine which players will start on Sunday because none of those who have started the last league matches were fielded which means Maxwell Konadu could stick to the line-up he has paraded since the Tema game with no reports of injuries in camp as of press time.

The need for Kotoko to go all out cannot be overemphasized. Bechem United are down but they are certainly not out. Any side that plays Kotoko plays with extra strength. That is something Coach Maxwell Konadu and his players must bear in mind as they prepare for Sunday’s duel. It is good that Kotoko fans expected to fill the stadium have started cautioning their players against overconfidence and it is my firm belief that that the team will maintain their good form to win Sunday’s clash.