Medeama face tough TP Mazembe test
Medeama SC will be hoping to put aside their financial troubles for a day when they face T.P. Mazembe in their CAF Confederation Cup Group A opener away at the Stade TP Mazembe in Lubumbashi, DR Congo, tomorrow.
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The Mauves will face their sternest test yet against the favourites and five-time champions, Mazembe, who have been tipped to win the group, which includes Young Africans of Tanzania and the Algerian side, O.M. Bejaia.
Medeama managed to sail through the previous qualification rounds on the way to booking a place in the lucrative group stage by dispatching the likes of Al-Ittihad Tripoli, Al-Ahly Shendi and Mamelodi Sundowns.
However, their financial troubles was brought to the fore ahead of their first-ever outing in the group stage, with their owner and bankroller rumoured to have sold his property to finance the trip.
The club has been quick to deny all such rumours but their skipper, Malik Akowuah, has admitted that the playing body is still owed bonuses from the qualification rounds.
Their hosts themselves are not strangers to Ghanaian football, and can count as many as four Ghanaians — Solomon Asante, Gladson Awako, Daniel Nii Adjei and Yaw Frimpong — in their ranks.
Mazembe’s knowledge of Ghanaian football, coupled with an unbeaten run at home in 15 matches, dating back to 2015, make them overwhelming favourites for the tie.
Notwithstanding the Congolese side’s rich experience in continental football, having won five CAF Champions League titles and also being the reigning African Super Champions, the Ghanaian FA Cup winners have been talking tough ahead of the clash, with goalie Muntari Tagoe vowing that they would escape from DR Congo with at least a point.
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“We know TP Mazembe are a very big team in Africa but we are confident that we can pull off a surprise. That is what we have been fighting and training for,” Tagoe said, ahead of Medeama’s departure from Accra on Thursday evening.