Nii Adjei excels in Homowo match

Correspondent: Jerome Otchere, Oseikrom

28th August 2007

Kotoko midfielder Daniel Nii Adjei was a cynosure of all eyes last Saturday at the Teshie Salem Park in Accra as he featured for Teshie Eleven against Nungua Eleven in the annual Homowo match played as part of events marking the Ga festival. Teshie Eleven won the magnificent trophy at stake after scoring twice against Nungua Eleven’s lone goal.

Nii Adjei who hails from Teshie was at home to celebrate with his tribesmen and as a footballer he featured prominently for Teshie Eleven. Indeed he was instrumental in the exciting win chalked by Teshie Eleven. Though he received great support from his team mates, Nii Adjei’s experience as a professional footballer was clear as he dictated affairs in midfield – sometimes operating from the back.

The nineteen year-old footballer joined Kotoko in January this year from Norchip FC. He played in almost all of Kotoko’s second round matches in the 2006/2007 Onetouch Premier League. He also featured in two Champions League qualifiers Kotoko played against Port Authority at Obuasi and in Banjul, The Gambia. He mostly played at the right side of defence.

So how did things go for Daniel Nii Adjei playing in that Homowo special match which was watched by a large crowd mostly from Teshie-Nungua and its surrounding communities? “It was a normal match. There was nothing different. The atmosphere was good. The competition was there. In the end we won and the excitement as expected was great” the player said in a post match interview.

Asked whether he did not feel pompous playing alongside people who are not professional footballers, Nii Adjei said it would have been wrong for him to do that. He said as a calm gentleman, it was not his lifestyle to look down on people whether or not he lived with them. “The fact that I play for Kotoko does not mean I have to feel big in the midst of non-professional footballers. Such an attitude leads to disrespect. I do not live that way” he emphasised.

“The essence of the Homowo match was to foster unity. We have been playing this match for a long time. The match promotes brotherliness, peace and love. So can you imagine how it would have looked if I played with the mind that I am more important than the other players” he asked rhetorically.

The young midfielder who is part of the forty-man squad Coach Bashir Hayford named last week said it is important for him to be humble wherever he went. Asked whether he thought he will be part of the final thirty-five players for the league, Nii Adjei answered in the affirmative but indicated that in everything, he was looking up to the almighty God for a good season.

On Kotoko’s pre-season training and preparedness for the coming season, the midfielder who was part of the Kotoko contingent that toured Germany last month noted that the pre-season training had been good and that the team was waiting for the start of the league to prove its mettle. He called for maximum support from all Kotoko supporters.