There isn’t much that fans of Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak happen to agree on, but this much is true: neither side is particularly looking forward to their upcoming meeting.
It’s not like these two foes – between whom antipathy runs wide and deep – have ever lacked incentive to go at each other with full force, eager to leave lasting scars with bared teeth. And maybe they’re feeling all those intense emotions and feral energy now, but there just aren’t enough confident vibes emanating from either camp at the moment.
Hearts are winless two games into their bid to reclaim the Premier League title they lost to Kotoko last season, and critics are beginning to zero in on head coach Samuel Boadu once more, picking up where they left off last season with their skepticism.
A slender defeat to Aduana in Dormaa-Ahenkro on opening day didn’t exactly set alarm bells ringing – it is, after all, not an easy venue for visitors to win at, despite the hosts’ recent poor form there – but a hard-fought draw with capital rivals Accra Great Olympics in Matchweek Two certainly did send fans into panic mode.
If there is any opponent that has proved a handful for Boadu since he took the reins at Hearts in March 2021, it’s the Dade Boys. Boadu has brought Hearts all they’ve ever coveted, short of continental glory, but he simply hasn’t found a way to secure local bragging rights.
Hearts’ last victory against Olympics came in a 4-0 triumph almost a year prior to Boadu’s appointment, and they’ve now lost three and drawn two of subsequent Mantse Derby fixtures; but for new centre-back Konadu Yiadom’s late headed goal, Olympics would have walked off the Accra Sports Stadium pitch last Sunday, proudly and loudly, with a fourth win in five games against their neighbours.
And so a point that, ordinarily, would have seemed insufficient reward for a hard day’s work ended up feeling more valuable than it actually was. It was, at least, one point more than Hearts started the day with, and now they turn attention to a sworn foe against whom Boadu has enjoyed a bit more success.
He may have won just one of three Premier League games versus Kotoko as Hearts boss, yet it was that hugely consequential result which all but handed the Phobians the title, Boadu’s first silverware for the club, last year. The next time Boadu beat Kotoko, there was another trophy at stake, even if the President’s Cup is little more valuable than a trinket.
Boadu’s quest for a third victory over the Porcupine Warriors would have to be achieved without a player who scored in the first two, Daniel Afriyie Barnieh. Easily Hearts’ finest, Barnieh has been invited to the camp of the Black Stars, Ghana’s senior national team, as part of a squad readying itself for a series of pre-World Cup friendly matches during the latest international break.
Kotoko will, no doubt, be relieved they won’t have to deal with Barnieh, a man who is quickly becoming their kryptonite in this fixture, but his absence doesn’t mean their job would be any easier. They’ve just been kicked out of the CAF Champions League at the first hurdle, rather embarrassingly, collapsing at home to Burkinabe outfit RC Kadiogo despite winning the first leg 1-0.
The final outcome left fans who turned up for the game disgruntled and disillusioned, and it seems unlikely that many of those would return just a week later for what is ordinarily the biggest show in town each season (why not, though?).
Regardless of how many supporters are present for Hearts’ visit, however, Kotoko’s ability to scrape all three points would do the playing body’s confidence a lot of good, a vital first step in staging their title defence and salving their wounded pride… and, just maybe, they might be able to get the fans back onside a lot sooner than expected.
For Boadu, the mission of ensuring that doesn’t happen at Hearts’ expense is a very personal one.
He bragged, quite boldly, last season that no Hearts team he puts out would ever lose to Kotoko. That claim was backed up by the aforementioned President’s Cup win, before being rubbished by a 1-0 defeat in Kumasi not many moons later.
The admittedly narrow loss was mired in controversy, but Boadu knows all too well that a repeat – regardless of circumstance – would almost certainly cost him his job.
Even a draw may fail to justify a stay of execution, as it would only mean as good a start as Hearts had last season, when they didn’t win any of their first three league games – and we know just how the rest of the campaign went.
But, of course, that difficult start and the ensuing mess was all triggered by a terrible run in inter-club football, and that’s a cautionary tale Kotoko would be hoping to learn from. Seydou Zerbo, the Kotoko trainer, has only been at post a few weeks and isn’t at an immediate risk of losing it.
The Burkinabe’s margin for error would be a little wider, but it doesn’t take too many bad results to wear the patience of the Kotoko faithful thin; to crash out of Africa and not beat lose to the old enemy all in eight short days is usually enough to get the blood boiling in Oseikrom.
The writing is already on the wall, and Zerbo doesn’t need a Daniel to make it any clearer, does it?
Sunday’s game isn’t going to decide which club will/won’t win the league – it’s still several months too early to call – but it could set the tone, for better or for worse, for the rest of the season.
Sigh.
Enn Y. Frimpong – Ink & Kicks
