Asante Kotoko will be aiming to register their first win of the 2018/19 Caf Confederation Cup group stages when they play host to ZESCO United at Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on Wednesday afternoon.
Kick-off is at 16:00 GMT.
The Ghanaian club suffered a 1-0 defeat away to Al-Hilal Omdurman on matchday one with a solitary goal from Waleed Hamid leading the Blue Wave to victory.
ZESCO – in stark contrast – started their campaign with a 2-0 win over Zambian rivals Nkana in Ndola earlier this month. John Ching’andu and Lazarous Kambole found the back of the net for the hosts who had defeated Kaizer Chiefs in the playoffs to book their place in the group stages.
Head coach George Lwandamina is wary of the threat posed by Kotoko, but is quietly confident that his side can overturn their hosts.
“We will be ready for Kotoko because I’m aware that their record in home games is good. It will be an exciting game,” Lwandamina told a local radio station.
He added: “I didn’t have to know Kotoko before. My philosophy as a coach is to know my team and not other teams because football is full of uncertainties, so we are just coming to play our normal game against Kotoko.
“ZESCO United is not excited being on top of the group because we have played just the first game in the group.
“We just have to prepare well for our next game.”
Porcupine Warriors boss Charles Akonnor wasn’t best pleased with some of the reported comments made by his opposite number in the build-up to the clash.
Lwandamina reportedly stated that Kotoko aren’t as strong as they were in the past, highlighting that the teams of yesteryear were much better than the current crop representing the Ghanaian giants.
“He [Lwandamina] knows his team,” Akonnor is quoted as saying. “He’s done well, he went to Sudan and won so that probably has given him the necessary confidence to be talking like that.
“But he would know whether we are not as strong as we used to be when we meet and play.
“Asante Kotoko were very strong years back, but we have not played at this level in Africa for 11 years.
“That could also be the reason he said that. But every good thing has a beginning. We began well and I believe it will continue,” he concluded.
©AFP
