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Bekoe, Harrison to miss 5 more matches
By: Jerome Otchere
Posted: 7th June 2008
Leading league scorer Eric Bekoe and enterprising defender Harrison Afful will miss five more of Kotoko’s league matches.
Since joining the Black Stars camp the two players have missed a total of nine games and going by the schedule of the senior national team vis-à-vis their 2010 Africa-World Cup preliminary round of matches, Eric Bekoe and Harrison will not feature for Kotoko until after June 22.
It would be recalled that Eric Bekoe was not available when Kotoko played against Tema Youth. He however featured when Hearts of Oak trekked to the Baba Sports Stadium on May 25. The league’s top scorer after that match missed Kotoko-Kessben, Liberty-Kotoko and RTU-Kotoko matches played at the Baba Yara, El-Wak and Tamale Sports Stadia respectively.
The Black Stars play in Bloemfontein, South Africa against Lesotho this weekend and they will again be in Libreville, the Gabonese capital to engage their Gabonese counterparts next week. A week later they will welcome Gabon to the Baba Yara Stadium.
As long as the two Kotoko players remain in the fold of the senior national team, they cannot feature for Kotoko which means they will be absent this Sunday when Kotoko host King Faisal.
The services of the two influential players will be missed again when the team plays away to Hasaacas on Wednesday June 11. The other matches Eric Bekoe and Harrison Afful will miss include Kotoko- Ashantigold in Kumasi on Sunday, June 15; Olympics-Kotoko on Wednesday, June 18 in Accra and Kotoko-Real Sportive on Saturday, June 21 in Kumasi.
All things being equal, Eric Bekoe and Harrison Afful are expected to return to the camp of the Porcupine Warriors for the match against Wa All Stars on Wednesday, June 25. They will also be available two other matches – one against Zaytuna United in Kumasi and the other against Gamba All Blacks at Swedru.
Kotoko supporters unanimously appreciate the fact that the team can do without the two players. Yet there is a strong feeling within the same supporters’ front that the team does not play at full strength in view of the absence of the two players. Directors of Communications and Operations, Kwame Baah-Nuakoh and Jerry Asare respectively do not disagree that both Eric Bekoe and Harrison Afful bring a lot to the Kotoko team. However they are quick to dismiss the assertion that Kotoko should not have released them to the Black Stars and their reasons are tangible.
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