Top 4 has been a good exercise- George Amoako

Correspondent:  David Kyei

18th June 2007

The 2007 GHALCA / One touch top 4 competition would be cruising to the wire this weekend with the prize at stake firmly secured by the royal porcupine club, Fabulous Asante Kotoko F.C.

At the Sunyani Coronation Park last Sunday, Kotoko completed their determination to annex the trophy way ahead of time when there is one more match to play to seal the deal by picking a valuable point from draw game specialist, Berekum Arsenal.

Though many of the fans were in a jubilant mood for seeing their club win the trophy that they won for the last time in 2003, George Amoako, the director of finance and administration, approached his understanding of the Kotoko victory with sobriety and went philosophical when he was approached for his observations on the tournament so far.

According to the astute football administrator, Kotoko will gain so much from the top four competition that in his opinion, it would be worth participating in any competition that comes the club’s way in the coming months.

“Participating in the top four has been a worthy exercise. We have tried to use the new players that we have to participate in the competition and considering the fact that they have been able to win the competition is a big credit to them and their technical team”

“The success should now be consigned to the historical shelf so that we have a clear vision to focus on the more difficult work that lies ahead of the team”

“The players have shown that if they are camped and trained well before the season starts in August, they will be able to do many good things for the club”.

Goal scoring has been a bane of Kotoko in the past but the eight goals scored in the last five matches, if was anything to go by, points to the fact that the  team was picking the pieces, but again the philosophical George Amoako sees more than just the goals.

“Yes the team has scored goals in the matches so far played but I would say that I am happy with the number of goal scoring chances that were created in the matches. This shows that with more training sessions, the team will find the rhythm and start burying more goals to make us all happy”

“I am happy that some of the players who we are observing have shown that they can perfectly fit in into the Kotoko team that we want to build. The others too would have to undergo further observation to enable us make a concrete decision on them”

To the many a fan who have started jubilation for the success of Kotoko, George Amoako, though did not want to take anything away from them insists that the battle was not ended.

“Our fans can be happy about the performance of the team in the top four competition, but I will plead with them to stay focused and alert to ensure that we went through all the matches with an enviable record. We have to win our last match to make the celebration full”

“We should not do things that will bring pressure to bear on the players, but rather keep encouraging them to go in to the match fully prepared, play their hearts out, win the trophy and in a convoy, carry it to Kumasi. That is what we all have to look up to before the final match”