Medeama, Chelsea, Dwarfs on warpath
Ghana’s continental club hopes will be put to the test tomorrow when the remaining trio of Berekum Chelsea, Medeama SC and Ebusua Dwarfs attempt to gain a healthy advantage in the first leg of their crucial round of 32 ties.
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Chelsea, the nation’s sole representatives in the CAF Champions League, take on Libyan side Ahly Benghazi at the Golden City Park.
The Blues have been left to carry the nation’s hopes in the Champions League after Kumasi Asante Kotoko’s shock elimination at the hands of Barrack Young Controllers in the preliminary round.
Tony Lokko’s Chelsea are playing with a high level of confidence at the moment, enjoying a resurgence that has seen them climb out of the relegation zone in domestic competition with two home wins against Ashantigold and Heart of Lions while they preceded that feat with a penalty shoot-out victory over South Sudan’s Atlabara after the two-legged tie ended 2-2 on aggregate.
Meanwhile, Ahly Benghazi arrived in Accra with victory in mind, boasting three players who were part of Libya’s triumph at the 2014 African Nations Championship in South Africa. They also lead and remain unbeaten in Group B of the Libyan Premier League.
The Libyans played their preliminary round home game against Foullah Edifice at the Stade Chedly-Zouiten in Tunis because of the poor security conditions in Benghazi. So, a positive result would be crucial for Ahly in Ghana if they are to have any hope of progressing to the second leg on neutral grounds.
A draw for Ahly Benghazi against Chelsea would be the ideal result for the Libyans, who progressed on a 4-2 aggregate after an emphatic 4-0 thrashing of Foullah Edifice in the first leg in Tunis, which secured their progress to this stage.
Arguably, debutantes Medeama were Ghana’s stand-out performers in the previous round when they ousted Panters FC of Equatorial Guinea with a 4-1 aggregate result.
But fans of the Tarkwa-based side would be seeking nothing less than a repeat performance when they host MAS Fes of Morocco in the Confederation Cup at the Essipon Stadium tomorrow.
Elsewhere, Ebusua Dwarfs welcome Angolan power-house Petro Atletico to the Robert Mensah Stadium, with their thoughts fixed on causing another upset.
Interestingly, Prof. Mintah’s Dwarfs are faring better in Africa than the league, where an impressive draw over Hearts of Oak left them second from bottom with just a point more than Inter Allies.
But the mysterious lads would head into the tie against Atletico on the back of a solid 1-0 aggregate victory over Jaraaf at the same venue in the last round.