Hearts of Oak vs Asante Kotoko: More than a game

Games between the two giants of Ghanaian club football are rarely without high stakes but Sunday's clash has a lot of sub-plots cooking

The date June 27, 2021 will go down as one of the most unforgettable in the storied history of the Ghana Premier League . It will not be the most important match that Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko have engaged in. After all there is that storied clash on January 9, 2005 when the two became the first clubs from the same country to compete for a Confederation Cup title. Sunday’s clash however does have significant claim to perhaps being the most high stake league game in recent memory.

That line alone should tell how the low fortunes of these aristocrats of Ghana football have sunk. Gone are the days when they conquered all before them and laid waste to pretenders to their crown. A myriad of factors, most self inflicted has seen new rivalries created and usurpers thrive. Berekum Chelsea, Aduana Stars, Wa All Stars , Ashgold and most recently Medeama have all contributed positively to the dilution of what was once an almost uncontested duopoly.

It is fair to acknowledge the work that has been put in by Accra Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko to once again dominate all chatter across the land. These days the match lacks the true star quality of yonder years. Sunday’s match will be no different- but that will not make it any less compelling. There are important players in both teams no doubt but no bonafide cross over star like these teams paraded in their glory days. It will be a clash between two well utilised squads. Two teams built to understand the concept of the whole over the individual.

For most of the actors at the heart of this game , it is about separation. Tied atop the league table on the same number of points with four games left, the winner will enjoy some breathing space to contest the last games and perhaps win a a league title that has proven elusive in recent years. For the fans of both teams, it will be about bragging rights. But it will also be about relief and affirmation.

Just ask the majority shareholder of the hosts, Togbe Afede XIV.

The club that has always prided itself on belonging to the fans found itself swirling in the pool of a modern business takeover when the paramount chief of the Asogli traditional area took over after the club was taken public. The subsequent years have been filled with unrest and strife as fans, locked out of the club they once ran , have battled for a return to glorious old days and old methods unsuccessfully. The new man in charge had a plan and he was going to do it his way.

It has been almost a decade of unfulfilled promise and self doubt since then. Millions of cedis spent on players and coaches all of whom have failed to deliver. A win tomorrow will bring him closer to a league title than he has ever been at any point since he took over. It is a title that he desires because it will mend fences with the aggrieved thousands who follow his team. It will also validate his decision to stick to his guns that his vision would eventually pay off.

Samuel Boadu is another for whom this will be more than another game. He has many supporters amongst pundits and writers alike. They will tell you that he has been the best coach in the country over the past three years. He however has no title to back up that claim. It is no fault of his. Boadu’s ambitions have been derailed twice at Medeama by truncated league seasons and he did not hesitate to jump ship to Hearts of Oak when his relationship with the Mauves went sour. Such is his ambition.

He is a charismatic tactician who seems to be all in at the Phobians judging by his connection with the fans of the club. As he said after his team put up a classy performance to defeat Legon Cities recently, “My problem is not with Asante Kotoko.It is with three points”. A win on Sunday will mean more.

Salifu Ibrahim did not envisage wearing the rainbow colors of Hearts of Oak when the season began. He was very much at home in Techiman where he was the best player at Eleven Wonders. By every measure he was the best player in the league by the end of the first round. But not nationally acclaimed. He had delivered consistent performances at every league venue in the land by the time Hearts of Oak came calling and the need for a bigger stage convinced him. He has been as influential in Accra as he was in Techiman.

His presence in a larger media market however has done his reputation a world of good. He finds himself in a close battle for the title of best player in the land. One of his closest rivals for that individual title, Fabio Gama will line up across him. He knows it will be a referendum on that title.

The feeling is mutual in Kumasi as well. The Porcupine faithful as Kotoko fans call themselves hide under a swagger and bravado to make up for their lack of domestic success in recent years. They sense this might be as good a chance as they ever get to reclaim their lost throne. A win will mean the world. For the man who leads them the stakes are beyond written words.

Nana Yaw Amponsah’s dream was to run the Ghana Football Association. His was a vision to revolutionise the very foundation of the football system and drag it into a modern, prosperous era. That dream was dashed in the close election that brought Kurt Okraku to the hot seat after the tenure of the Normalisation Committee imposed by FIFA. It seemed his opportunity was gone. Enter a hungry Kotoko, desperate for a breath of youth and energy to reclaim its place at the table. It was a match made in heaven.

It has not been easy for Nana Yaw even though he has brought a raft of sponsorship deals and imposed an administrative structure . His brash style rubs many the wrong way in-spite of the progress the club has made but there should be no doubt that his direction has brought Kotoko this far. He still has eyes on running Ghana football. What better way to make a pitch than to succeed with one of its biggest institutions.

Mariano Baretto quit on Ghana in September 2004. He had been charge of the national team for nine months. Spirits were high and the team looked like it was going places. He was wildly popular with players and fans. Then he upped and left with very little in the form of an explanation. A lot of the players he left behind during that time say he quit on them when he had restored their belief. Taking the Kotoko job surprised many. Not because it was a job that was beneath him. His career careened off the highway after he left Ghana and he has been a journeyman since. The Kotoko job is an opportunity to fix what he destroyed in 2004 . Not for the fans or the country. But for himself.

Then there is the organiser. The Ghana Football Association’s inner corridors could not have wished for a better plot than what is currently playing out between these two sides. Kurt Okraku’s administration has run the league under the “Bring Back The Love” mantra. There are those who believe they have done very little to live up to that call to action but the thousands of tweets, flags on cars and display of jerseys on a national scale say differently. It has been mostly organic too. But for Covid-19 restrictions, this game had the potential to break gate records. They will tout it as an example of the potential of the domestic game when it is done right-in other words as they have done it.

Wherever the chips fall after ninety minutes on Sunday, there is no doubt it will be more than a game for some.