Hearts of Oak beat Kotoko in Accra
Spiritualists lead Hearts in CAF competitions - Dan Kweku Yeboah
Ace Ghanaian sports journalist, Dan Kweku Yeboah, has argued that Hearts of Oak know how to prepare for matches their arch-rivals than Asante Kotoko.
Kweku Yeboah who is a Kotoko fan has traveled with both teams on a couple of occasions in their respective Africa inter-club competitions campaigns.
Speaking on Peace FM, he said despite being a Kotoko fan, the club never won an away trip with him onboard but all his trips with Hearts ended in victories for the Phobians.
"Interestingly, since I started sports journalism, Kotoko never won an away match(outside Ghana) with me among the entourage. Those days that they were active in Africa. And Hearts never lost an away fixture with me on board,"he said.
Comparing the two teams, he said Hearts of Oak unlike Kotoko do not focus only on physical preparations.
"Hearts of Oak they know their stuff. They don’t only play football physically but my people, oh no," he said with a big laughter.
He then recounted on what happened in 2006 prior to Kotoko's 4-0 away defeat to Al Ahly in the CAF Champions League.
"In the year (2006) that Ahly scored Kotoko 4 within 20 minutes. When we arrived at our hotel in Egypt, Ghana-based in Egypt told us that the hotel Kotoko will be based is for the club chairman of Ahly so they(Kotoko) should be careful. So Sylvester Asare and his leaders decided to let Ghanaian residents cook for the team…On the day of the match, they went to the lobby to wait for their bus..the people (Hotel attendants) came and they were like ‘You are going to the stadium, we want to give you hot tea’. Coach E K Afrane said 'oh okay bring it'. At the time Sylvester came downstairs the Kotoko players were having their hot tea. Then he said ‘Ah! coach Afrane you have made me waste my money. We went for the game…under 20 minutes 4-0."
"But if you travel with Hearts, if they opened the dressing room for them, a spiritualist will go first to do an inspection before the team will enter. But for my people, the moment you open, they enter," he added.
Dan Kwaku Yeaboah's revelation comes as a reaction to Hearts of Oak's 2-1 win over Kotoko in the President's Cup last Friday, March 4, 2022.
Daniel Afrityie Barneih and Patrick handed the Phobians the win while Samuel Boateng got the consolation for the Porcupines.
Despite Media Group head of sports, Daniel Kwaku Yeboah