FootyDream

Ghana Premier League leaders Asante Kotoko defeated Kharis Sports Academy in a friendly at the Adako Jachie training ground earlier this afternoon.

Head Coach Prosper Narteh Ogum handed starting roles to Kwame Baah, Christopher Nettey, Charles Owusu, Richard Agyemang, Andrews Appau, Richard Boadu, Justice Blay, Isaac Oppong, Evans Adomako, Sarfo Taylor and Samuel Boateng.

The remaining minutes of the game saw no goals but wasn’t short of chances, Sarfo Taylor was denied a goal by brilliant goalkeeping.

Kotoko will start the second round of the season with a home game against Dreams FC at the Baba Yara Stadium on Sunday.

Karela United sits at the 8th position with 25 points and coach Bismark Kobi-Mensah thinks his team deserves more than this looking at the personnel he has on the field.

In an interview with Skyy Sports Show, he said “I’m not satisfied for now. I’m not satisfied because apart from the 25 points accumulated in the 17 games played, the points within the games played should be 51 so meaning the team didn’t get an average score of points. I think we have a squad here who can and should do better than this in the second round”.

The young tactician made a couple of additions to his team that had good impact on the team. He also said; “He did his report and got to know they have scored 22 goals and realized the team has wasted more than 30 goal scoring chances and that has affected them.

“Sometimes these chances could have won games for us or gave us at least a draw if we had scored and these happened in the beginning of the season”.

Karela United in the first round of the 2021/22 GPL season beat Hearts Of Oak at the CAM Park, King Faisal in Kumasi and beat WAFA in Sogakope which is some of their biggest highlights. They are currently on 9 games unbeaten run in the league after they lost to Dreams FC in the week 8 fixture.

He continued by saying “The team was struggling in the start of the season. Again most of his players were inexperienced or hadn’t taste the GPL before so he gave them time to settle very well. Most of the goals we conceded were individual mistakes that came from most of the players so I had to find solutions to them and the we came up with a system that worked on their psych that made them concentrate for a long time and that gave the team shape and helped us”.

“I am expecting an improved performance in the second round of the Ghana Premier League,” he added.

Asante Kotoko have unveiled a 36-seater team bus ahead of the start of the second round of the 2021-22 season this weekend.

The bus was delivered to the team as part of the partnership deal between Asante Kotoko and Access Bank which the two parties expect to mutually benefit from.

The brand new 2021 Volvo Marcopolo B8R Bio-Safe Executive Coach has a 34+1+1-seater capacity and it replaces the 45-seater Nissan bus provided by Dr Kwame Kyei in 2018 when the team bus had an accident.

The purchase of the new luxurious Volvo Marcopolo bus which is branded in the colours of the Porcupines with a picture of the life patron, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will minimize the level of expenditure when travelling.

Asante Kotoko SC have secured sponsorship deal with Access Bank, one of Ghana’s leading financial institutions, the club will announce the deal in the coming hours.

Initially, the Porcupines were said to have been in negotiations with CalBank over a sponsorship but talks broke down between the two parties and have been replaced by Access Bank.

The deal will see Access Bank becoming the official bankers of the Porcupines until 2024.

Access Bank replaces Fidelity Bank who had been official bankers of Asante Kotoko since 2011 before Nana Yaw Amponsah was appointed.

Access Bank plc, commonly known as Access Bank, is a Nigerian multinational commercial bank, owned by Access Bank Group. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the national banking regulator.

Originally a corporate bank, they expanded into personal and business banking in 2012. Access Bank and Diamond Bank merged on April 1, 2019. In conclusion of its merger with Diamond Bank, Access Bank unveiled its new logo, signalling the commencement of a new enlarged banking entity. The bank employs more than 28,000 people in 2021.

After the merger, with more than 42 million customers, Access Bank plc became the largest bank in Africa by customer base, and the largest bank in Nigeria by asset.

However, according to ‘The Banker Magazine’s’ rankings released in July 2021, Access Bank is ranked 18th in the top 25 banks in Africa and the third in West Africa after Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank.

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) Residential License D Coaching Course for the Greater Accra Region which commenced on Sunday, February 20, 2022 is ongoing at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence, Prampram.

This batch of participants include Hearts of Oak midfielder Gladson Awako and former Black Stars Goalkeeper Sammy Adjei.

The session is supervised by GFA Coaching Instructors and Coach Educators including the Technical Director, Bernhard Lippert and Director of Coaching Education, Professor Joseph Kwame Mintah.

Participants will be taken through some key areas which include growth and development of young footballers, methods of coaching and cardio vascular resuscitation/administration of first aid.

It will be recalled that, Aduana Stars Striker, Yahaya Mohammed also participated in the Brong Ahafo Regional coaching course to get his coaching badge.

The sixth batch of the license D coaching course is expected to end on Sunday, February 27th 2022.

GFA COMMUNICATIONS

Following the decision of the Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) to sanction the President’s Cup between Accra Hearts of Oak SC and Asante Kotoko SC, their Premier League Match Day 19 games have been rescheduled.

The President’s Cup will be played in honor of H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo President of the Republic of Ghana on Friday, March 4, 2022 at the Accra Sports stadium. The match also forms part of Ghana’s Independence Anniversary celebration.

As a result, the Premier League game between Bechem United FC and Asante Kotoko SC has been rescheduled to Tuesday, March 8, while the game between Accra Hearts of Oak SC and WAFA has been moved to Wednesday, March 9, 2022.

All stakeholders are to note that all other matches slated for Match Day 19 in the Ghana Premier League will go on as scheduled.

GFA COMMUNICATIONS

Ghana Premier League holders Hearts of Oak defeated Division Two side, Ghana Police Nationals 3-0 in a friendly encounter at the St. Thomas Aquinas School Park on Wednesday morning.

The friendly game was arranged as part of the club’s preparations for the second round of the ongoing Premier League season which commences this weekend.

Head Coach Samuel Boadu handed starting roles to Richmond Ayi, Larry Sumaila, Caleb Amankwah, Richard Kwabena Agyei, Ansah Botwey, Amankwaa Baafi, William Opoku, Tudor Blagoji, Benjamin Yorke and Kofi Kordzi.

The Phobians demonstrated their superiority in the first half and went into the break two nil up. Kofi Kordzi opened the scoring in the 20th minute before Benjamin Yorke doubled the lead on the stroke of half time.

At the start of the second period, Samuel Boadu subbed off the entire team and brought on Ben Mensah, Fatawu Mohammed, Kudus Mohammed, James Sewornu, Patrick Razak, Sulley Muntari, Salim Adam, Suraj Seidu, Arafat Alhassan, Enoch Asubonteng and Isaac Mensah.

Just minutes into the half, Hearts of Oak scored their 3rd goal through Suraj Seidu, he made no mistake in front of goal after receiving a pass from Sulley Muntari.

The remaining minutes of the game saw no goals but wasn’t short of chances, Sulley Muntari was denied a goal by brilliant goalkeeping.

Hearts of Oak will start the second round of the season with an away game against Legon Cities at the El-Wak Stadium on Saturday.

The Phobians are looking to get their season back on track after an abysmal first round. Hearts of Oak after the first round sit in 7th place with 24 points.