Can Blessing guide Liberty to FA Cup final?
Liberty Professionals’ leading marksman, Latif Blessing, is expected to lead his side to qualify for their maiden MTN FA Cup final when they clash with GN Division One League side, Okwawu United at the Baba Yara Stadium on Sunday.
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It’s a football bonanza for football fans in Kumasi who will have a rare opportunity to watch two FA Cup semi-final games on the same day, as Bechem United take on surprise side Wa Rockets in the first match at 3.00pm
Blessing was in top form after scoring a hat-trick to inspire the Scientific Soccer lads to a convincing 4-0 thrashing of Sekondi Hasaacas last Wednesday at Dansoman, and Liberty would be counting on the diminutive striker’s scoring form to propel them past the Soccer Mountaineers into the final of the competition.
An FA Cup final berth serves, at least as a compensation for their unimpressive run in the Premier League title.
Perhaps, with better prospects in the MTN Cup, Coach George Lamptey and his charges are putting all their energies into the competition and leaving no stone unturned as they are just two games away from landing the second biggest silverware in domestic football.
Liberty are now favourites in the competition after eliminating Elmina Sharks 3-0 to reach this stage, and last Wednesday’s 4-0 thumping of Hassacas sent the strongest possible signal to Okwawu of what to expect on Sunday when the match kicks off at 6.00pm.
Okwawu enter the match as underdogs, but Liberty cannot afford to underrate the 1986 FA Cup winners who will be inspired to replicate the success story of fellow Division One League campaigners, Nania FC, who stunned Kumasi Asante Kotoko to win the MTN FA Cup in 2011.
Three decades after their triumph, Okwawu will be eyeing another slice of football history. And even though they no longer possess marquee names such as the talented squad who inspired their win in 1986, the Nkawkaw-based sides have on their technical bench assistant coach Ibrahim Merigah, one of the chief architects of that historic win over RTU in Accra.
Okwawu steadily reached the penultimate round by eliminating Dunkwa United, Sekondi Hasaacas and WAFA, and could be a surprise package if Liberty drop their guards on Sunday.
In the day’s first game, Bechem, who eliminated Kotoko on penalties in Kumasi, will seek to halt Wa Rockets to reach their first FA Cup final, particularly to atone for their disappointing Premier League campaign where they are in the relegation zone.
Rockets reached this stage by eliminating Bawku United, Power Sporting Club, Asokwa Deportivo and Wa All Stars.
Bechem coach, Manuel Zacharis, will look to his leading striker Abednego Tetteh — who has scored six goals in the league — to help secure their place in the final.