Kumasi Asante Kotoko has been unimpressive this season. The team has struggled to win home matches and it appears the team cannot score more than a goal in a match. Even playing at home (at the adopted Accra Sports Stadium, as their favorite home grounds in Kumasi is under renovation), the team has struggled to win. The team lost at home in Accra to Accra Great Olympics, leading to head coach Maxwell Konadu being sacked, and lost to Al Hilal in Accra in the 1st leg of the CAF Champions League second preliminary stage.
So it seems that Kotoko will be humiliated by Al Hilal in the second leg in Sudan on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. That is where it gets interesting. The man who has nothing to lose is dangerous. “He that is down needed to fear no fall…” Al Hilal will be making a big mistake to underestimate Kotoko.
The truth is that most people have looked at the negative sides of this team without looking at the strengths. The season is still early, but this is a team that has not lost away from home. They beat Dreams FC 1-0 at Dawu, and Medeama, as well as Berekum Chelsea, were jubilating to get last-minute equalizers at home against Kotoko. These were teams Kotoko struggled to even draw against away from home in the past. Nouadhibou FC needed a questionable penalty to draw 1-1 playing at home in Mauritania against Kotoko in 1st leg of the CAF Champions League’s first preliminary stage.
Kotoko has a tall order to qualify in Sudan, but Al Hilal will be living dangerously if they underestimate Kotoko based on the first leg in Accra.