Have you heard? That Falcao will be at the Accra sports stadium this Sunday May 5th 2013, when Accra Hearts of oak engage their arch rivals Kumasi Asante kotoko?
I bet you missed it huh? Not exactly surprising! These days, the biggest match up on our domestic calendar is practically swallowed up by our insatiable thirst for European football.
In the lead up to the crunch Glo Premier League, match day 24 encounter, local fans have largely been caught up in the explosive UEFA Champions League semifinal encounters between German and Spanish teams.
Thank God it is over and we can look forward to this week end’s encounter with some form of excitement.
After all, it’s our own version of the el-classico, or is it super clash, as we prefer to call it?
Well, I am guessing you didn’t exactly swallow my Falcao bait, but probably for a second, just some few seconds; it got your attention right? Well, Colombian top striker, Radamel Falcao will definitely not be at the stadium on Sunday, not even close to the airport. However, a certain player, whom fans have nicknamed after the Columbian, will show; adding some spice to the forthcoming encounter.
While Hearts of oak look to move clear of the relegation zone with a vital win, their arch rivals, Asante Kotoko will not only attempt to claim full bragging rights, but also seek three vitals points to keep the pressure on leaders Medeama, who only stand one point better than Kotoko in 3rd place.
It is certainly a tough ask to predict the winner but the picture will surely become clearer once a number of burning questions and our minds are answered.
CAN DIDI SCORE THE HAT-TRICK?
He was born Mas-Ud Dramani but he is popularly called Didi Dramani. He won’t be playing on Sunday but he would be directing Kotoko’s team from the bench.
Didi came to Kotoko on the back on a great deal of goodwill, having demonstrated astute tactical abilities by leading the Black Maidens to a historic bronze at the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
As with all new jobs, it took some time to bed in. Indeed the Kotoko fans, though not impressed with the mixed results, gave Didi the benefit of doubt.
That patience however dried up when kotoko blew away a great chance to advance in the Champions League.
After drawing goalless away to USM Bajaia, kotoko settled for a 1-1 draw in Kumasi and were eliminated. The fans grew livid and Didi got a lot of stick for his tactical errors on the day.
Kotoko shifted focus to retaining the league title and just a couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Didi had been issued a 3 match must win ultimatum.
This was however denied by strongly management. But the point was not lost on the Kotoko faithful; Didi was under pressure and he had to respond with a hat-trick of victories.
He has since scored 2 goals by beating Tema Youth in the league and Eleven Wise to advance to the FA Cup semi-final.
Didi has shown that he has learnt from previous tactical errors by making the right selections and is giving returnee Michael Helegbe more minutes to be the game changer that he can be.
Helegbe show proved his importance when last week end he scored a brace to fire Kotoko past Eleven Wise to the FA Cup semi-final.
Kotoko no doubt have the talents, but will Didi get his selection and tactics right on the day, beat Hearts and secure a hat-trick of victories?
The competition in the Glo premier league this season is way closer than one would think. The point gap between Dwarfs in 4th position and King Faisal in 11th is just 5 points.
For Hearts, placed 9th with 32 points, a potential victory over Kotoko may lift them into 5th position. Dwarfs, Ashgold and Aduana in 4th, 5th and 6th position all have 35 points and Hearts could level and jump above Ashgold should the latter lose and Hearts with a goal difference of +2 win convincingly to better their Ashgold’s of +4.
The incentive to win on Sunday couldn’t have been higher and with Coach David Duncan in charge, there is no doubting Hearts’ ability to eke out a famous win.
When Duncan was appointed, it was received with mixed feelings by the team’s t rank and file.
Duncan in the past talked and courted a lot of controversy on and off the field. For the Hearts fans, they couldn’t tell which Duncan will show up.
The talker or the walker? Fortunately for Hearts fans, it’s the walker in Duncan that has shown up., Duncan was appointed in late November 2012 to replace CK Akunnor.
He has since demonstrated that he can walk his talk by rescuing Hearts from a horrendous start to the season and supervising a steady rise in the team’s form.
Duncan achieved this by bringing back experienced Emmanuel ‘Obuor’ Osei, James Bissue as well as raising the confidence of Kofi Abanga, Mahatma Otto, Moro Abubakar and Ashietey Ollenu who are all playing with gusto and ensuring that Hearts have been on a good run since stumbling to Ashgold a couple of weeks back.
The ‘Phobians’ have since beaten Amidaus, Liberty and Gold Stars in the lead up to Sundays encounter.
Such, has been Duncan’s influence, lifting Hearts form the relegation zone to mid table and an FA Cup semi-final place.
But will all that good work come up unstuck or Hearts with Duncan in at the fore, will dunk to the top 5?
Now, when fans nickname you ‘Falcao’ after Atletico Madrid’s striker, you know you must be on to a good thing. 13 league goals and counting has been the story of Hearts’ in form striker.
His importance was all the more underlined when he was rested in the FA Cup match against Gold Stars. Hearts will hope to have him fresh and ready to do a good number on Kotoko.
But Kotoko’s defence especially the center backs in Rashid Sumaila, Kofi Agyare or Ohene Brenya will really have their hands full.
Kotoko usually do well at the Accra Sports Stadium and haven’t lost to Hearts since 2010, but if that streak were to continue, then Kotoko will have to keep Ghana’s own Falcao quiet on the day.
It will be an interesting battle between the intelligent Sumaila and Mahatma and I believe that battle will go a long way in affecting the result of the game.
Well, Sunday is only 2 days away and we will sure have full answers. See you at the stadium and hopefully the tempo of the game will be as hot as these 3 burning questions.