|
A quite welcome for contingent
For the first time in many travels, the contingent of Fabulous Kumasi Asante Kotoko that travelled to Calabar, Nigeria to suffer a painful 0-2 defeat at the hands Dolphins F/C returned home last Tuesday to a quite reception.
Apart from the special assistant to Alhaji Lamini and Sarpong Kumankuma, Iddrisu, who was at the airport with a handful of his circle members to assist communications director, Kwame Baah-Nuako, in welcoming the team back from the trip, the usual funfair that characterises the returns of Kotoko at the Kotoka Airport was missing.
Three reasons were offered by some of the people who made it to the place.
First was the continual change in the flight schedule of the contingent whilst still in Nigeria. “As they monitored through the ‘Fabu Fila’ the continual changes in the flight times by the airline, it became difficult for people to know the exact time when the team would arrive’” Iddrisu postulated.
The second reason as gathered was that, the team was taken through the VIP back gate and so whilst a few others waited at the final exit point of the arrival lounge, they team bus drove up to the drop zone to pick the team.
They got to know about it too late and so by the time the got wind of the change in the gate to be used, the team was on her way out of the airport.
The final and heart-braking reason for the little patronage of supporters in welcoming the contingent was attributed to the score line they recorded in Nigeria.
According to one Kwadwo Marfo, “we were expecting that the team returned with a very good score line so that we could start celebrating way ahead of the second leg match, but the 0-2 defeat has off-set our plans to the extent that when I called my other colleague supporters to join in coming to the airport, the refused the invitation”
“I just wish and hope that the players will step up their preparation and work harder to make sure that we qualified to the next round of the competition. We have done it before and know very well that it can be done once again”.
Though there was not that huge presence of supporters at the airport as has been a characteristic feature of the club whenever they return from a foreign trip, the few that made it one way or the other gave the team the assurance that they still had a group of loyal fans who will always be ready to lend their support.
Some of the fans took the opportunity to interact with the head of the technical team and told him some of the things they will like to see done before the second leg match in Kumasi.
Kwame Baah-Nuako was seen fraternizing with the members of the contingent and was particularly serious with the way he propped the players up and assured them that he had confidence on their abilities.
Having had a short meeting with the management members on the trip, the contingent was immediately driven t Kumasi to start preparation for the outstanding league matches as well as the second leg of the confederations cup match at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.
Before the team made the final journey to Kumasi, they drove to the camping base of the Local Black Stars at the M-Plaza Hotel to drop the members of the Kotoko team that had been called into the Stars’ team.
The five players, Harrison Afful, Jordan Opoku, Francis Akwaffo, Eric Bekoe and prince Anokye joined their colleague, Richard Manu to complete the list of six from Kotoko camp of the stars.
|
