TODAY IN HISTORY.... History was made in Ghana on January 9, 2005 when Ghana’s two most glamorous Clubs Accra Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko met in the finals of the CAF Confederations Cup. It was the first time in history two Clubs from the same country on the continent were playing in the finals of any CAF competition. Both teams set a date for the second leg at the Kumasi Sports Stadium having share hounors in the first leg after the game ended 1-1 at the Accra Sports Stadium. THE JOURNEY TO SUCCESS Both teams began their campaign in the second round of the competition having being eliminated from the CAF Champions League. Hearts and Kotoko edged out on penalty shootouts to Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel and Algeria’s USM Alger respectively in the second round of the Champions League. The results saw both teams being relegated to the CAF Confederations Cup where Asante Kotoko had to settle matters with Morroco’s Wydad Casablanca [WAC]. A team they lost to in the finals of the African Cup Winners Cup in 2002. Hearts of Oak on the other hand were paired with AS Douanes of Senegal. Both teams qualified for the group staged having recorded wins over their respective opponents. Kotoko defeated WAC Casablanca 3-1 on aggregate whiles Hearts of Oak also pip AC Douanes 1-0 to book a place at the group stages of the competition. GROUP SCUFFLE Asante Kotoko were handed a tricky Group A consisting of Enugu Rangers of Nigeria, Angola’s Petro Athletico and Al Hilal from Sudan. Hearts of Oak on the other hand got paired in Group B with two Cameroonian Clubs Coton Sport FC and Sable FC alongside Santos of South Africa. After six rounds of matches both teams topped their respective groups. Kotoko topped Group A with 10 points after recording 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses scoring 10 goals in total and conceding 7. Hearts however managed to scoop an impressive 13 points after their six rounds of matches recording 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss to advance to the finals to face their sworn rivals. FINAL BATTLE The finals of the 2004 CAF Confederations Cup Competition was played in a two-legged affairs with the first leg taking place at the Accra Sports Stadium on January 2 whiles the second leg was scheduled for January 9 at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. FIRST LEG FINALS The first leg finals of the 2004 CAF Confederations Cup ended in a 1-1 stalemate in Accra. The away team Asante Kotoko shot themselves in front in the 60th minute after Hearts goalkeeper Sannie Mohammed failed to grab a one-time shot from Kotoko’s danger man Charles Taylor which allowed forward Michael Osei to tap home the opener. Taylor took a powerful straight shot which saw the Hearts of Oak gloves-man splitting the ball away into empty space for Michael “Ember Power” Osei to follow on a rebound. After holding on to the lead for more than 85 minutes, the Phobians finally pulled parity when striker Luis Agyemang curled in a low ball into the bottom right corner of the Asante Kotoko goal post with his left foot to leave Kotoko goalkeeper George Owu in an anguish mood. The last minute equalizer gave the Phobians a lifeline of a one all drawn game to go into the second leg of the Confederations Cup finals in Kumasi. The goal, which came when most Hearts supporters had already given up hope and were on their way out of the Accra Sports stadium brought the home team on level pegging to cancel a Michael Oseis second half strike for Asante Kotoko. SECOND LEG FINALS All was set for the second leg tie at the Kumasi Sports Stadium as Kotoko went into the return encounter with an advantage on the away goal rule having secured a 1-1 draw at the Accra Sports Stadium. It even got more exciting for the Porcupine Warriors when “Poster boy” Charles Taylor opened the scoring in the 7th minute with a superb finish after powering home a half volley following an in-swinger from right-back Ofosu Appiah which was flicked on by Michael Osei. Hearts however exhibited the “Never Say Die” spirit when they equalized 10 minutes from time. A well taken corner kick from captain Yaw Amankwah Mireku saw Adjah Tetteh who controlled beautifully with his right foot and took a one-time strike into the roof of the net to make it 1-1. Kotoko goalkeeper George Owu who had demonstrated antics and delaying tactics was once again caught disappointed with his defense for allowing Adjah Tetteh to get his foot onto the ball. The dire was cast as both side prepared to go in for the penalty shootouts having shared the spoils in regulation time. A miss from Kotoko captain Joseph Hendricks saw Hearts of Oak winning the CAF Confederations Cup for the first time after beating Kotoko 8-7 on penalties to obtain the bragging rights over their arch-rivals. HEARTS STARTING XI: Sannie Mohammed, Dan Quaye, Amankwah Mireku, Acquah Harrison, Michael Donkor, Francis Bossman, Adjah Tetteh, Lawrence Adjei, Louis Agyemang, Prince Tagoe, Dong Bortey Coach: Cecil Jones Attuquayefio KOTOKO STARTING XI: George Owu, Michael Ofosu-Appiah, Godfred Yeboah, Dan Acquah, Joe Hendricks, Dan Yeboah, Edmund Owusu Ansah, Stephen Oduro, Yusif Chibsah, Michael Osei, Charles Taylor Coach: Hans Dieter Schmidt
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 19:12:22 +0000
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