Power without control is nothing-Yaro

Story: Jerry Afriyie-Paemka,

He was sometimes a one man ‘symphony orchestra’ for Kumasi Asante Kotoko as he scored a vital away goal and the opener for Asante Kotoko to silence the 30,000 supporters of Al Ittihad at the June 11 Stadium in Tripoli, Libya in last Friday’s ‘rumble in the desert’. 

Kwabena Yaro was one Kotoko player who proved more than a handful for the Al Ittihad players.  Yaro outshined the North Africans to their own physical game and went on to teach his opponents a few lessons in dribbling.

Speaking to the Kotoko Express after the match which Ittihad won by a slender 2-1 victory, Yaro said he realized the Libyans were becoming physical on him and so he decided to use his strength as well to prevent them from clamping down heavily on him.

“My philosophy in such situations has always been that, I will bulldoze my way through using strength and power but at the same time I must stay in control of the ball, that way I am able to open-up the opponent and score or give a pass to a colleague to score. The Libyans were difficult particularly in the air but we were better and we will prove that we deserve to qualify for the group stage when the Libyans visit Kumasi in a fortnight’s time” Yaro noted.

The player’s thrilling performance was very much an improvement on his output in the final stages of the just ended Onetouch Premier League.  This he explained that was due to serious training, commitment and the will of God.

“I have been training very hard these days because I felt I was still far from my best. I know what I can do and so I have been working very hard and praying to God to help me to hit top form and realize all that I want to achieve in my career.  I prayed to God to let me have a good game against Al Ittihad and score and I am thankful that I played well and did score a goal”.

On his impression about the game itself, the burly striker said the playing body were determined to carry the day but met a stumbling block in the Kenyan Referee and his Assistants who were more than ‘motivated ‘ to rob the fabulous lads of victory.  “I don’t know what happened to the referee at half time. When he came out of the dressing room for the second half, he had a wicked look on his face and just came to frustrate us”.

“After the referee awarded the penalty to Ittihad and they equalised, I was praying that the score should stay same until the end but unfortunately the home team scored the winner late in the game but it is not over yet. We have all to do in the return encounter at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi and we promise that we will make amends”. Kwabena Yaro stated.