Editorial: Sleep not, Ghana’s four!

Not a particularly great outing by our clubs in Africa, except for Berekum Chelsea and Tarkwa Medeama who posted 2-0 and 2-1 wins in their respective home and away encounters.

We hardly can envisage the two clubs being knocked out of their respective CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup competitions at this stage after the second leg duels.

The 2-1 away triumph by Medeama over their Equatorial Guinean counterparts excites us for the simple reason that it is the Tarkwa club’s first experience in Africa and to have surmounted all the intrigues involved in away games must be a master stroke.

We, therefore, expect that they will not be swollen-headed by that feat as to sit at home for their opponents to pull a fast one against them in the return leg.

Similar caution must be extended to Chelsea, who will be playing away to their South Sudan opponents in the second leg.

Even though they appear comfortable with their 2-0 lead, we see the second leg away to be dicey in a country where political and social unrest is pervasive and can easily have a negative influence during the match.

Simply put, Chelsea must know that they will be travelling to a war zone in the second leg and must be wary of attitudes that their hosts (FC Atlabra) can capitalise on to ensure a big victory.

We do not feel at ease with the results posted at home by the much experienced Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs, in spite of the fact that both registered wins over their respective opponents from Liberia and Senegal.

Indeed, for us, Kotoko’s 2-1 win over Barrack Young Controllers (BYC) and Dwarfs’ solitary goal against ASC Diaraf are as bad as losses, knowing what pertains on the African terrain where teams hanging on marginal wins during away encounters are cheated out.

The situation becomes even more dire where the hosts are veterans, such as Diaraf, in the continental game. Dwarfs are, therefore, in danger of facing some clandestine manoeuvres by their opponents to make their slim advantage not count at all.

But we expect Dwarfs to prevail, just as Kotoko are every Ghanaian’s tip to survive in Liberia, come the second leg, despite a similar slim advantage that they will be carrying there.

Kotoko’s case is even more scary or dangerous, since a single goal by their opponents without reply will end prematurely their otherwise expectant jolly ride in Africa this year.

For now, we can’t stop congratulating all four clubs on their apparent good starts in their respective continental assignments, while urging them not to rest on their laurels.