Ghana’s sole representative in the CAF Confederations Cup, Aduana Stars might not be faring too well in the domestic front, but the “Ogya’ lads are raring to commence their participation in the group stage of a major continental club championship with a good result come match day one.
The Dormaa based club will travel to Abidjan to face Ivorian giants ASEC Mimosas in their Group A opener, a first-ever meeting between the two sides.
It’s not going to be a walk in the park for them especially at the home grounds of ASEC, considering the pedigree of the 1998 African champions on both domestic and international fronts.
“Now we have the experience of playing in the African Club Championship, we believe that we can do more than enough to come out of the ASEC game with a good result. So far we have played three clubs; two in Champions League and one in this competition, so we know what to expect when playing away,” Aduana coach Abubakar Yussif remarked.
“This is our very first game at the Group stage of any CAF Club competition and we want to start on a good note”.
Over concentrating on their involvement in the continental competition might be the reason for their poor showing in the Ghana Premier league so far though they have four outstanding games to clear, general captain Emmanuel Akuoko thinks otherwise.
“We take it one match at a time and I personally don’t believe our participation in Africa has had any negative effect on our performance. On the contrary, it has rather helped us keep the team in shape and we are looking forward to it,” Akuoko said.
Domestically, Aduana has played lesser games compared to ASEC, who were crowned Ivorian champions for the 26th time a few weeks ago.
“We know two of their top strikers, Komlan Agbegniadan and Ahmed Toure, both of whom we have played against on countless occasions in the league in Ghana before they left for Cote d’Ivoire. I believe that if we can keep these two in check, then we will return to Ghana with a good result,” goalkeeper Joseph Addo added.
Elsewhere in Casablanca, Raja Club Athletic of Morocco will play host AS Vita of DR Congo in the other Group A match.
