Akwasi Appiah Backs Kotoko To Knock Out CARA

THE HEAD Coach of the Senior National team, the Black Stars, Akwasi Appiah, has predicted that Kotoko would advance to the next stage of the Africa Confederations Cup Competition.

Kotoko wasted three penalties but managed to beat CARA of Congo by just a solitary goal when they hosted their opponents in the Confederations Cup eliminator in Kumasi on Sunday.

Appiah, who watched the game in Kumasi, observed that CARA ‘parked the bus’, as they hardly moved out of their goal area. The strategy reportedly frustrated Kotoko, hence the marginal victory.

The Ghana trainer, however, opined that the Congolese would be forced to open up in the second leg as they would be looking for opportunities to cancel Kotoko’s one goal lead and possibly score more to advance to the next stage.

According to him, Kotoko would be handed with numerous scoring opportunities if CARA decides to surge forward to score, and urged the Porcupine Warriors not to give up hope.

He said even though it is sad that Kotoko could not utilize the numerous scoring opportunities that came their way during the first leg, the Ghana FA Cup champions can still advance at the expense of CARA.

“CARA came to Kumasi to defend and this strategy frustrated Kotoko, who failed to find the back of the net more than once; but it will be a different ball game when Kotoko travel to Congo.

“The Congolese club will move forward to score a goal and Kotoko can take advantage of that and play their normal game and also score goals”, the former Kotoko skipper told newsmen in Kumasi.

By: Yaw Asamoah/ thePublisher