Sudanese giants Al Hilal club have revealed their strength and strategy they will deploy against Ghana’s Asante Kotoko Sporting Club as the two come face off in the first leg of the CAF Champions League competition preliminary round come Wednesday.
Al Hilal arrived in Ghana with a 40-man contingent to begin preparations for the crucial game against Asante Kotoko on Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at the Accra sports stadium. This is the last stage of the preliminary round of the 2020/2021 Champions League campaign, and the winner between the two sides after the two legged fixture will advance to the group stages of competition.
Following the absence of a national league competition in Sudan currently, The Blue Waves have been preparing for the game against Asante Kotoko through friendly matches. The 2020/2021 national league in Sudan is yet to start and as a result, Al Hilal have played three friendly matches as part of their preparations for the game. Speaking in an exclusive interview with ghanasportspage.com ahead of Wednesday’s blockbuster game, Vice President and Leader of Delegation to Ghana of Al Hilal, Tahir Younus has revealed that his side will rely heavily on the strength of their players who play for the national team to inflict defeat on the Porcupine Warriors.
For the records, Al Hilal boasts of eight (8) of their players playing for the Sudanese national team, and Tahir is confident that the experience of these players will do the magic for Hilal against Asante Kotoko.
“We have eight players in the national team and we think that this the ones we’ll rely on, because these are good prepared players because as I told you, for the rest of the players there is no league and there is no competition that is why these people are not playing for some times”, Tahir revealed.
Some of Al Hial players featured for the national team in November during the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in the two legged fixtures against Ghana, and Tahir believes that this has given the players enough minutes, a good blend and stamina which will be beneficial in the encounter against Asante Kotoko.
“The eight players we have in the national team they played before very soon (SIC) the competition against Ghana and also they played friendly match with our national team, so they are ready for the match. Of course we are relying on them, we are depending on them and we think this is a reliable tactics for us”, Tahir added with confidence. Asked whether these 8 players are part of the team that arrived in Ghana on Saturday, Tahir responded, “Yes, all of them”.
The names of these eight players include goalkeeper Ali Abu Eshrein, defenders Faris Abdalla, Ahmed Wadah and Samawal Merghanai. The others are midfielders Abuaagla Abdalla, Mohamed Mokhtar and Nasr Eldin El Shigail, with attacker Mohamed Abdelrahman completing the list.
