Hearts vrs Kotoko: The Real Centenary match

Published on: 19 November 2011

By Nii Ayitey

It’s Saturday morning and Awudu woke up in good spirits. Soon, he would round up his routine chores and head for the community football park.

Today, he will not play but the expected banter between fans of Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko on sidelines was too inviting to resist.

Then as he makes his way to the field, his thoughts are fixated on this particular match. The seventh week 2011/2012 Glo Premier League fixture between Ghana’s two leading clubs had assumed interesting dimensions beyond the 3 points at stake.

Just over a week ago, Accra Hearts of Oak celebrated 100 years of existence with a commemorative encounter against Nigeria’s Enugu Rangers.

Enugu however went beyond their range and spoiled Hearts’ party by dishing out 2-1 defeat. Prior to that, Hearts (aka Phobia) had lost 1-0 in midweek to Ebusua Dwarfs.

'So much for a centenary celebration’ must have been the dominant expression within the Phobian family. But amid the disappointment, the Phobians found a straw, a straw big enough, in the shape of their sworn arch rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko.

The Phobians couldn’t have been more thankful for a timely fixture; one that offers them the opportunity to beat Kotoko, reverse the recent losses, acquire the bragging rights and more importantly; ice the centenary cake. That for the Phobians would be real centenary match, not the one with their ‘impolite’ guests.

Further up north, Kotoko (aka Fabulous) have been preparing feverishly not only to beat Hearts and establish their recent superiority but consolidate their first position (14 points) on the league log ahead of the Phobians in second place (13 points).  All these make up for a tough encounter at the Accra Sports Stadium tomorrow November 20, 2011.  The battle lines as they say, have been drawn.

Form and Superstition

In the lead up to this particular game, the media hype has been intense with some of the media houses conducting surveys to find an apt name for what has been called Ghana’s version of the famous ‘El-Classico’ between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Names like ‘Super Clash’, ‘Clash of the Titans’ and the ‘Sikaman Derby’ were quite popular. That development was a shift from the intrigues of the past which spiced up those passionate encounters.

Those were the times when it was alleged that both teams spent huge sums of money on superstition. As a result, there have been some interesting events associated with these encounters. Roll back the years to April 19, 1998 in a league match at the Accra Stadium.

Prior to the encounter it was alleged that, both teams had consulted the oracle and had been told that the only way to win was to ensure that each particular team’s 11th player entered the field last. So the match actually started with 10 players with Hearts Jacob Nettey and Kotoko’s Lawrence Amankwah waiting for the other to enter the field before he does.

The referee then found a solution by asking both players to enter the field simultaneously. Interestingly the match ended 1-1 thus fuelling the superstition theory more than ever.

Then there is also the issue of irrelevance of current form. Indeed, in the lead up to this match, it’s the Phobians who have made the most of this statistic since Kotoko clearly is in better form (Kotoko remain unbeaten after 6 matches and also scored 11 goals while conceding 4 goals) The Phobians would refer to January 2005 when Kotoko was in better form going into the 2nd leg of the African Confederation Cup final in Kumasi.

The 1st leg had ended 1-1 in Accra. In Kumasi, Kotoko took the lead through a Charles Taylor goal and with only 13 minutes remaining on the clock Lawrence Adjah Tetteh equalised.  Hearts went on to win the ensuing penalty shoot-out, and ‘steal’ the cup right under Kotoko’s nose.

The Fabulous boys would also refer to a couple of months after that match in May 2005 when Hearts had the psychological edge going into the then GT Premier league match in Kumasi.

That day Kotoko thrashed Hearts 3-1 further strengthening the argument that current form is irrelevant when the two sides meet. However until the match plays out, pundits can only rely on the strengths of both teams to fairly predict in which direction the match would go.

Key Battles

This season, both teams have gotten off to good starts unlike the last two seasons where they even sometimes found themselves in the relegation dog fight.

Their resurgence this season can mainly be put at the doorsteps of sound tactical organisation as well their players who have stepped up their game.

In the game tomorrow, the team that would carry the day would be the team that wins the key battles. Those battles would essential be in the three departments of the game.

Kotoko’s lethal attack made up of strikers Nathanial Asamoah and Ahmed Toure (if he passes a late fitness) supported by Fatawu Mohammed would give the Hearts defence of Bobie Ansah, Owusu Sefa, Kofi Agyare and imposing Osei Bonsu a lot of headache.

The Hearts defence however would up to the task considering that it has only conceded 2 goals in this campaign. Out of those battles however the Osei Bonsu –Toure one would be one to savour.

Toure, the Ivorian import has been very sharp this season, continuing from where he left off last season thus proving to all that, his best player award last season was not a fluke.

The one who wins this battle would be very critical to the final result. At the opposite end, Hearts attackers, Mahatma Otto and the exciting Uriah Asante would seek to mount the pressure on Kotoko’s towering defender Awal Mohammed.

That pressure would be aimed at pushing Awal to probably give away another penalty like he has been doing this season. Awal is a fine defender and if he brings his ‘A’ game devoid of those errors, Hearts would find in him a big shield to overcome.

Those were the thoughts that run through Awudu’s mind just before he got to the field where he was met by a huge cheer. He hoped after tomorrow the cheer would even be louder and bright like the colour of his shirt.

Which colour do you think that is and what cheer would be loudest; Ph-o-o-o-o-o-bia or F-a-a-a-a-a-bulous?

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