Asante Kotoko captain Frederick Asare has been the number one choice goalkeeper for the Fabulous club after he deposed the then captain Ibrahim Danlad last season.
This earned him a national team call up with the Black Stars and he continued to be number one during pre-season in Kotoko,while still earning national team call ups from Otto Addo.
That earned newly recruited Mohammed Camara from Guinea the opportunity to keep the posts in the first Ghana Premier League match of the season against Karela,churning out a great performance which earned him the most valuable player award.
And now comes the headache again for Prosper Ogum the club’s head coach as he waits for the return of Asare from the Black Stars camp. The Stars are in Morocco to play Niger in an Afcon qualifier.
Asked in a post match if the return to Kotoko of captain Frederick Asare will create problems as to whom is the number one, Ogum was a bit evasive though seemingly referred to Camara as the safest pair of hands .”I said there was not going to be a problem (in the absence of Asare) because we have…
Camara who is good and the safest pair of hands you can think of,and he showed it throughout the game”If Asare comes, we all know he’s a national team goalkeeper,the three of them will keep working ,on the Match Day, the one we think will suit the game ,we just put him there”.
The elated Prosper Ogum then declared his excitement at the competition in Kotoko’s goalkeeping department saying..
“As a team I think it’s good for us we have good goalkeepers so that when the last line of defence is beaten he will be there to save the team, and you saw he did that a lot within the game. I want to urge him to keep his confidence, keep working hard, and stay focused throughout the season”.
Keeping a clean sheet, winning three points for Kotoko and coming out as the best player in his first competitive match may have cornered Ogum to install Camara as his number one now and it may take a lot of hard work for Asare to take back his spot in the team.
Certainly the battle lines are drawn and the two goalkeepers not forgetting the young teenager Fatou Mohammed will in the next few weeks battle it out at the Adako Jaachie training grounds to determine who becomes the number one choice of Kotoko.