Back from Libya with good news

Kotoko players disembark after arrival from Libya 

I wasn’t in Libya. I didn’t travel with the team. Yet playing my role within the club’s media team, especially at Kotoko Express and Asantekotokosc.com, it was fun reading the stories and seeing the exclusive photos sent by our photojournalist, David Kyei. The pictures told diverse stories and the stories themselves gave so much information on the team. Only one conclusion could be drawn: that, it was worth going to Libya.

The political situation in the North African country isn’t the type any reasonable student of society admire. Libya used to be peaceful despite the seemingly despotic if not tyrannical administration of their former ruler, Muammar Gaddafi. Following his overthrow, Libya hasn’t been the same. The political crisis in that country have succeeded in tearing social life apart.

Competitive football league hasn’t been played there for instance in a long while. Well, before Kotoko left for the North African country, the news was that, the team was traveling to honour friendly matches to send signals to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) that the country was in a stable condition to guarantee the safety of football fans and for that reason, the ban on the beautiful game could be lifted.

Again, we were told that, invitations to clubs outside Libya and indeed on the continent, to come and play friendly matches had been turned down on grounds of insecurity but rivals Hearts of Oak accepted an invitation to play there. Soon Kotoko followed. Hearts of Oak were beaten in their two games but the Porcupines lost one and drew the other game.

Sections of the media have had their own way of analyzing Kotoko’s performance and that of Hearts of Oak, easily concluding that, Kotoko fared much better than Hearts. I haven’t been interested in those analysis for the simple reason that, whatever Hearts did in Libya can’t be the measuring rod for Kotoko although I can understand why these comparisons are being done.

Kotoko and Hearts are sworn rivals so you can expect people, especially supporters on the street to compare and contrast, in search of bragging rights. Beyond the fanaticism, it’s important for us at Kotoko to look at our performance within the proper lenses. There’s no doubt that, what the Porcupines did in Libya would add to our quest to reclaim titles they lost in last year. The Porcupines were impressive especially in their last game.

The good news we have had at Kotoko is that, we have recruited the best materials. We have a good coach – a coach who notwithstanding great difficulties last year, managed to steer his team to a respectable second place last season.

Our team is more organised technically and without question, if the league was to start now, Kotoko would be more than ready. That’s why it’s misplaced for any serious mind to compare Kotoko to a team that appears not to have confidence in their foreign coach; in fact, a team that seem be struggling to win both low and high profile friendly matches.

The standards at Kotoko presently regarding the playing body are high and it’s wrong for anybody to compare Duncan’s team to what pertains at Hearts. Let’s us look at our strengths and weaknesses on their own merit and rectify any identifiable problem also on its merit with the aim of getting our arsenals sharper than they are presently.

Kotoko have returned from Libya with another good news, which is that, the players on the basis of their exposure, feel confident. There have been suggestions that, the Libya side is pitched against the triumphant G-6 team. I endorsed that. It would add not just to the fun of supporters watching the two teams in action at a time there is no competitive league; it will additionally give the technical team one more opportunity to look at the two teams separately.

It would be interesting to see how Michael Osei’s team fares against David Duncan’s side. Let’s commend management and the technical team for the careful decisions they have taken in the past week, regarding the splitting of the team – one for Libya and the other for the mini tournament. Let’s continue to rally behind the team as they prepare for the new season.