Ghana champions, Aduana Stars will be hoping to overturn a lone goal loss from the first leg when they host El Tahadi of Libya on Wednesday at the Nana Agyemang Badu II Stadium in Dormaa, more than 450-kilometres from the capital, Accra.
Despite playing in the Egyptian capital Cairo due to the political turmoil in Libya, Tahadi managed to beat the Ghanaian side, who have sworn to avenge the painful loss in the reverse.
The excitement of witnessing a continental game at their fortress is expected to draw a large crowd despite being mid-week. However, the aim of the ‘Ogya’ lads remains unchanged – make sure to beat the Libyans and move on.
Head coach Yusif Abubakar has said his team will need to play above themselves in order edge out Tahadi, who gave them a tough test in the first leg two weeks ago.
“It was a tough game for us in Cairo and we lost due to a lapse in concentration. We have learnt our lessons and hopefully we should come out tops on Wednesday,” Abubakar said.
The Libya champions arrived in Ghana last Friday, six clear days ahead of the game, an action that clearly shows their commitment to finish what they started in Egypt.
However, Abubakar is the least perturbed and is working on how to select a strong team for the test.
“The team is focused. We are not interested on the off the field issues. They (Tahadi) coming to Ghana since Friday shows that they mean business and would want to make sure they acclimatize and give us a good game. For us as team, I can say we are ready,” he added.
Ghana has had poor outings in recent continental club competitions, with the last representatives, Wa All Stars failing to go past the prelims.
No Ghanaian club has won a continental trophy since Hearts of Oak beat eternal rivals Asante Kotoko in 2004, to clinch the inaugural CAF Confederation Cup, and the performances of the representatives in previous outings have consistently been underwhelming.
The last time a Ghanaian side reached the mini-league stage of the premier continental club championship was in 2012, a feat achieved by Berekum Chelsea, incidentally regional rivals of Aduana.
“We want to go as far as we can in the competition. The target is to at least equal what Berekum Chelsea did by reaching the group stage,” Abubakar concluded.
Credit: CAF