Kotoko is here to rekindle our memories

11th July 2007

Correspondent:  David Kyei  Khartoum, Sudan

The secretary general of Al Merriekh Sport Club, Mohamed Gaffar Goriesh, has described the decision by their board to invite Kotoko for a two day friendly as a good exercise that they intend to fully benefit from.

According to the Mohamed Goriesh, whose voice carries a lot of weight in Sudanese football, their decision to invite Kotoko was for the reason that they wanted to use Kotoko as a good test for their preparedness for the one-eighth stage of the confederations cup.

“We happen to find ourselves paired against two Nigerian clubs, Dolphins F/C and Kwarra United and, Ismael of Egypt. Since we already play almost a similar style as that of the Egyptians, we thought it wise to look for a worthy opponent from west Africa, so that we get to know what pertains there to make the right preparation for our opponents”.

“Judging from Kotoko’s recent performance in their Top Four competition that we monitored from here, their recent performance against Enyimba Nationals in Lagos, and the fact that they have been there in the finals of the confederations cup before, we settled on them”

Describing Kotoko as a club with a huge pedigree and an impressive CV, the general secretary says the presence of Kotoko will also rake back some fond memories the supporters of Al Merriekh have about the team in Sudan.

“The last time the two sides came face to face was some thirty years back where even though we won by a slim margin, we had to suffer at the hands of Kotoko who played a game that Sudanese football had not seen before”

“With the back drop of their performance in recent times and the news that they have revamped their team with some younger players, we do hope that they will give us a similar performance to rekindle our memories”

Impressed with the comportment of the team and the responsiveness of the leadership in flying to Sudan at a very short notice, Goriesh says his outfit is going to come out before the team leaves Khartoum with a proposal for the consideration of Kotoko.

“We have in times heard of how cities have been joining in sister-city relationships, we therefore think it will not be out of place for the two clubs to join hands in a sort of a partnership that will make such friendly matches a regular feature. Who knows, it might one day develop into a lucrative competition that others will beg to be included”.

“In the interim, I will like us to concentrate on how best we could work around the clock to achieve the targets that we shall be setting for ourselves”

Al Merriekh was facing dwindling fortunes until the arrival of former Ghana national Under 17 coach, Otto Pfister last September. 

“Mr. Pfister has really worked hard since his arrival to change things for us. Under him, we won the Sudan FA cup, played well in the Arab cup, and are doing well in the confederations cup as well”

“He has proven that he is one of the best foreign coaches on the African continent and we are proud to have him work with and for us”

On the club’s future on the continent, Mohamed Goriesh was confident that it was bright and that with hard work, the continent would shortly see the re-emergence of Al Merriekh as one of the power houses of African club football.

“Hard work has seen the Sudanese national team qualify for the African Nations cup to be hosted in Ghana, after over thirty years failure in attempt to be there. Much in the same way, our determination is to use that as a platform to re-launch ourselves on the African continent”.

“This I am sure is attainable since our players and those of Al Hilal form the majority of the composition of the Sudanese national team”.

“Our target in the confederations cup is to repeat the performance that won for us the Mandela Cup (the then African club winners’ cup) in 1989, and I know with our determination and the will of Allah, we shall win this year’s edition of the confederations cup”