Well, Ghana’s sole representative in the CAF Confederation Cup, Asante Kotoko were painfully knocked out of the competition on Sunday evening after a 2-1 defeat to ZESCO United at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
The Porcupine Warriors took the lead right after the break through substitute Stephen Nyarko but Jesse Were restored parity seven minutes later before Kondwani Mtonga grabbed the winner for the home side three minutes after the equalizer.
The defeat left many Ghanaian, especially Asante Kotoko fans, grieving after having high hopes of securing a quarter finals qualification.
But the question has been, how did they lose the game?
Was C.K. Akonnor knocked down by George Lwandamina or he was simply let down by his players?
Let’s see how it went.
ZESCO United’s Static Formation (4-4-1-1)
George Lwandamina started the game with a more conservative approach, and of course it was understandable since his side had nothing to lose. He, however, made three changes to the side that lost 2-1 to Kotoko in the first leg in Kumasi.
Simon Silwimba, David Owino and Agay Anthony were not handed starting roles.
Jacod Banda started in post with Clement Mwape and Mwila Phiri playing in the right and left sides of defence respectively while Marcel Kalonda and David Odhiambo played at the heart of defence.
Kondwani Mtonga, John Chingandu, Quadri Aladeokun and Jesse Were played in midfield with Quadri and Jesse on the right and left while Lazarus Kambole led the attack with support from Burundian international Enock Sabumukama.
Asante Kotoko Static Formation (4-1-3-1-1)
C.K. Akonnor, following a long list of injuries to his side and the suspension of Songne Yacouba, was forced to alter his line up. Habib Mohammed and Teguy Zabo were handed starting roles.
Felix Annan started between the sticks for the Reds while Amos Frimpong and Daniel Darkwah played on the right and left sides of defence with Agyemang Badu and Wahab Adams playing in central defence.
Habib Mohammed played in front of the defenders while Kwame Bonsu, Omar Bashiru and Emmanuel Gyamfi played in offensive midfield role with Gyamfi playing wide on the flanks with Zabo Teguy leading the attack supported by Abdul Fatawu Shafiu.
The Analysis
With ZESCO having nothing to lose in the game, their approach was much more conservative compared to Kotoko whose approach was much more attacking while keeping their defence compact.
The 4-1-3-1-1 (4-1-3-2) employed by Kotoko straight away gave the impression that Kotoko wanted to attack and defend at the same time.
Habib Mohammed’s role in the line up was to relief the two center backs of incessant pressure with support from Omar Bashiru while Kwame Bonsu serves as a swift link between the defenders and the attackers, especially when the team is in transition.
Perhaps Akonnor got his mindset right but the execution proved otherwise.
Habib Mohammed failed to perform his role, which explains why Sabumukama and Chingandu fired several shots on target in the first half of the game, that was however, truncated after Habib was taken off.
Kotoko’s game plan was to score without conceding and the strategy was to use Habib Mohammed as a barrier in front of the defenders while Zabo gets the gaols from Gyamfi’s crosses.
Gyamfi was to send in as many crosses as possible since Zabo Teguy had a wonderful height to fight and he actually got it right from the start.
In the first half, Kotoko did not concede and couldn’t score as well despite several attempts.
Gyamfi was denied on two occasions by Jacob Banda while Teguy who came close to putting Kotoko ahead was also stopped by the goalie.
This means that the game plan of attacking and getting a goal in the first half worked for Akonnor but for the brilliant reflexes of the goalie.
ZESCO’s Lwandamina was quick to react to Akonnor’s tactics, cutting off the attacks from the flanks after realising that Darkwah and Amos were impenetrable, and relying on his two influential midfielders Sabumukama and Chingandu.
That explains why Quadri was pulled out of the game under just 30 minutes to make way for Mwape to strengthen the flanks, close down Gyamfi and allow Sabumukama and Chingandu the free room to operate. At this point, Gyamfi’s crosses were truncated.
This saw Gyamfi switching positions as Mwape kept a close eye on him.
Sabumukama and Chingandu had 15 shots in the first half with 4 on target exploiting the weakest link in the Kotoko team.
Akonnor saw the reaction from Lwandamina and had to pull out Habib for Nyarko whose inclusion changed the flavour of the game by scoring the opener.
With this, Omar Bashiru and Kwame Bonsu sat back deeper than in the first half, stopping the long drives from Sabumukama and Chingandu and Lwandamina had to think again.
He went back to using the wings again after seeing the pillar in midfield by Kotoko.
Following the goal by Nyarko, the two lateral defenders of Kotoko lost concentration and surged forward without caution looking to increase the tally.
Lwandamina capitalised on that and all his two goals came from crosses.
The first came from the left where Darkwah operated and Jesse Were’s goal came from Amos Frimpong’s place.
The second goal scored by Kondwani Mtonga was also from a similar buildup.
Having lost three games consecutively ahead of the Kotoko clash and conceding 8 goals in those games, Lwandamina was just not ready to lose again.
Despite winning, both ZESCO and Asante Kotoko are out of the competition.
