The Accra Sports Stadium will come alive today when the two biggest clubs in Ghana, Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko go head-to-head in this year’s President Cup match.
Put together by the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA), the game would be used to honour the sitting President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who will grace the occasion and perform the ceremonial kick-off.
He is also expected to decorate the players with medals and present the trophy to the winner.
Scheduled to kick-off at 6pm, the titanic clash dubbed the ‘Super Clash’ will for the first time be played under floodlight since 2001.
The two teams have not played under the night skies since the infamous May 9 disaster which claimed 126 lives.
Inaugural winners of the trophy, Hearts would want to have a go at the defending champions of the 2019 edition, Asante Kotoko to recapture the diadem.
The outbreak of the deadly COVID-19 virus saw the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 editions of the game.
It has been just 12 days since the two teams honoured their rescheduled Ghana Premier League (GPL) match day seven game at the same venue which ended in a pulsating 0-0 draw.
Prosper Narteh Ogum
Kotoko Coach
Hearts Coach
Both sets of fans have since been on each other’s neck, claiming they were eluded by luck; otherwise the league clash would have ended in their favour.
With this clash, both teams have been presented with another chance to settle the debate with the President’s Cup which would produce a winner at all cost.
According to the organisers, both teams would resort to penalty shoot-out straightaway if a winner fails to emerge after regulation time.
Coach Samuel Boadu is yet to lose to a Kotoko side and this game presents him the chance to stretch that unbeaten run against Hearts’ bitterest rival.
For Kotoko coach, Prosper Narteh Ogum, this game presents him yet another opportunity to further endear himself to the Porcupine faithful by beating the Phobians to first earn them the bragging rights and to crown a successful week that saw him being crowned the Coach of the Month of January.
Another battle that will be up on the cards would be the one between current GPL goal king Franck Mbella Etouga of Kotoko and Hearts center back Mohammed Alhassan.
Etouga has been prolific for the Asanteman lads, bagging 13 goals in 14 games for the side.
Sadly, he is yet to record a goal against the Phobians, and that is one of the two missions for which the Porcupine Warriors are in Accra to achieve.
Close confidants of Etouga have whispered that he was hell-bent on adding the Rainbow club to his growing list of casualties and to make sure they return with the trophy to their base.
One player that missed the recent clash between the two sides was Hearts’ Patrick Razak.
Word from the camp of the Phobians indicates he may feature in the game and this news is a welcome one for most of the fans who missed his exploits in last month’s game.
Kotoko by virtue of their present standing at the summit of the league log was heavily tipped to pick all three points available in their last game but that turned out to be a mirage.
Chieftains of the Ghanaian game have decided to seat on the fence with their predictions this time around, leaving that to the two sides to determine on the field of play.
Both teams will smile home with a GH¢50,000 appearance fee alongside 25 percent each of the total gate proceeds.
Since the inception of the President’s Cup in 2003, Accra Hearts of Oak has won four times, two less than Kotoko.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
