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Qualification is a mission possible, players declare
By David Kyei, Dakar, Senegal
00:15GMT, 16-02-2010
Losing a champion’s league match
by 0-2 in the first leg may seem a huge task to undertake, but
the players on whose shoulders lay the arduous task of ensuring
qualification say that endeavour is a mission possible.
With evidence of worry visible all
over their faces, the brave porcupine warriors say their worry
though has to do with their defeat, they are of the belief that
on a good day of fair officiating, the story would be different
and also told differently.
According to the players who spoke
in separate interviews with Kotoko Express, they believe that
their opponents were not an extra ordinary side and that they
would be easy to handle in the second leg in Ghana.
“Every of us in the team is so
shocked to the bone that the referee chose to aid this side to
defeat us even when they knew very well that we were better than
them,” Isaac Amoako complained.
According to the goalkeeper who
had a fantastic afternoon despite the goals he picked from his
net, his colleagues played a wonderful game except that they
were cowed into submission by the Mauritania referee who did his
best to prevent them from going forward.
“This is the second time we have
encountered this referee and in all the instances, he frustrated
and cheated us as well and so I was not surprised that after he
carelessly and with no proper justification sent Baffour Gyan
off, my colleagues became scared and so could not move forward
as we did in the first half”.
“Though we are down by two goals
in the first leg, I must say that we are capable of turning the
tables in our favour, come the second leg”.
“I know our fans would obviously
be disappointed especially when they did not watch the match on
TV to see the enormity of the open bias that we have suffered. I
however urge them not to despair but have the hope and
confidence in us that we are capable of winning massively in the
second round for our qualification to the next stage of the
competition”.
“They should not so soon forget
that we have done it against Wikki Tourists and Dolphins all of
Nigeria, and so we can do it,” Amoako advised.
Having had a fantastic day
switching positions between the left and the right wings, Edward
Affum, looked even more worried as his three classy shots at
goal proved futile in his search.
As the man at the wings, he
suffered most of the time from the poor and biased officiating
and this he explains denied the team the chance to either
equalize or go on to win.
“Despite that I have not played
football for not so long, this is the first time I am coming
into contact with a referee who does not run, and also stands
some fifty metres away and award off-sides against us”.
“His main aim was to make it
impossible for us to score and this he perfectly executed to our
surprise”.
“Now that we have played them and
gotten to know their capabilities, we are going to re-strategize
for the second leg. I can assure fans that the story would be
told differently in the return match in Ghana where we will take
the fullest home advantage to win”.
For Gideon Baah, last Saturday’s
match was a baptism of fire into continental club football, and
what a way it was for him to lose in his maiden appearance.
“Much as I had watched champions’
league matches on TV and seen how referees on the continent
could be funny sometimes, I had never thought about it that I
would one day be experiencing such frustrating moments at the
hands of a fellow African”.
“With the experience past and
gone, I now know what to expect and even look out for more in
the future. I have put the pain behind me and I am going to hard
with my colleagues to ensure that we successfully scale over the
ASC Linguere hurdle”.
“I feel worried for the fans who
will feel let down by our earlier promises to record a win here.
However, I want to assure them that it is not over for us and
that we will do whatever it takes to secure a good win for the
team”.
With his eyes set on making it
into the next group of players to be assembled for the Local
Black stars and the World Cup, Ofosu Appiah sees any game that
he plays as a justifier for his ambitions and so played one of
his best games on Saturday.
“It is a shame that when you play
all your best football for your supporters, one person decides
to steal your show by denying you the opportunity to win on your
merit”.
“Much as it is a painful
experience, I will like to assure Kotoko fans, both home and
abroad that we will qualify, and I Ofosu Appiah will do
everything humanly possible to ensure that”.
“My only appeal to the fans is
that, even though we will work hard to qualify, it will not come
on a silver platter and so I will like them to first pray for us
and then come to the stadium in their numbers on the match day”.
Experiencing continental club
football for the first time, Mathematics tutor, Frank Boateng
was disappointed that the team did not win.
According to him, they entered
into the match with high hopes and determination but was
stopped, not by their opponents, but the man who was assigned
the responsibility of ensuring fair play, Referee Ould
Lemghambodji from Mauritania.
“This referee who could not run to
follow the action master-minded and supervised our defeat. I am
sure that in Ghana, we would be given fair officiating and so we
would be able to move forward on our opponents to score more
goals”.
Not perturbed by the “bad boy” tag
that people have started labelling him with for the frequency
with which he as been receiving sending off others from
referees, Ofosu says he would be prepared to affirm that
misconception about him for a reason.
“Kotoko is my life and if I will
have to be red-cared for the team to qualify, I will gladly do
that,” was his confirmation of how resolved the players are
about qualifying to the next round of the competition. |
