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The fight has not ended, but in reality this is a premier league that must go down as one of the most sensational in the ­finishing point
The fight has not ended, but in reality this is a premier league that must go down as one of the most sensational in the ­finishing point

Ghana Premier League 2016 — what sensational finishing

Most of our national football leagues do not end the way we are witnessing the current one. With two matches left to end the 2015/16 season, no soothsayer can easily predict who would be the champion.

There is no doubt that despite all the comments passed over the low standards, our Premier League is witnessing one of the highest level of competitive football.

I must say that right from the commencement of the second round of the competition, it has never been easy to say who would pick the trophy this year and right down to the 30th match day, the prediction has passed through various bizarre lenses of non-accuracy. It was obvious that the top four clubs would play a musical chair game down to the wire.

It must be noted that Wa All Stars at one stage convinced their fans that they were in a pole position to change the history of our national league but with three more matches to  breast the tape, good-old Asante Kotoko sounded a warning trumpet on the day they were celebrating their 81st anniversary, boldly telling the world that they were not ready to give up the  hope of claiming the title which would enable them to pick the baton to face Africa in the coming year.

However, their hope of accumulating nine points in the last three matches was last Sunday dented by Medeama SC. It is interesting to note that on that day, one club that was anticipating the danger of falling into the relegation quagmire, Liberty Professionals picked themselves up from the dust to survive the huddle with an amazing 1 - 0 victory over the league leaders, Wa All Stars, who looked all the way possible to position themselves as the next candidates  for the African Champions League.

Playing at their favourite Carl Riendorf Park at Dansoman, the scientific soccer lads, scored full marks as their match won the tag of the most beautiful match of the season. Indeed, they scored an early goal and like wounded lions defended it to the letter. At such a crucial stage of the competition with relegation beckoning them, Liberty had to work tirelessly against a team that was determined to make their full mark as potential champions. That added to the positive sign of the league not losing its beauty, and at once forcing the exercise to have a new shape.

I can say that the top four are still in contention with the title chance still in limbo as the first three, Aduana Stars, Wa  All Stars and Hearts of Oak are still knocking at the door to pick the title. 

Of course, Kotoko's chances fell through at the hands of Medeama SC and really the most intriguing match in anticipation is that of Aduana Stars and their closest challengers who are waiting for them at Wa today. Frankly, the fans of Wa All Stars would  be the most disappointed lot if they fail to win today's match which obviously would make them champions for the first time in their history as a club and in the history of the Upper West Region.

But Aduana do not look like a side that will lose that match. They are determined to prove a point and all that they are looking forward to is fair officiating and they know for sure that Wa is one of the most dangerous venues for visiting teams. It is clear that if the two leading clubs on top of the league table happen to draw twice in their final matches, then the potential champions would be Hearts of Oak who are looking forward to winning their last two matches against Medeama SC and New Edubiase on the trot.

I can fancy how great it will be for Hearts fans  if the century-old club would break through to do what looks like an impossible task which stand the chance of being recorded as one of the greatest wonders of modern football. Hearts were initially destined to win the current competition, looking at the way they took off in the days of their Japanese/American  coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi. Was it the destiny of the Phobians to miss this year's title by a whisker, counting down the chronicle of events which were recorded from the first to the seventh week?

Before the commencement of the competition, a management member of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Mr Edmund Ackah had predicted that by the end of the first round, his club would have the right to claim the title in advance, that was after checking the high profile of stars that had been registered by his club. No official of any of the other 15 clubs could challenge that assertion, as a club like Hearts of Oak could not make any wonderful recruitment for the season. But it was with those players that Kenichi turned the engine power on to threaten the rest to recoil into their shells from the beginning to a certain point with his inspirational words "Hu Shi"

Indeed, at one stage it looked like a one-man race, as Hearts took a commanding lead, but at one board meeting of the club after another, it was reported that the coach did not respect his employers, and that he had started banging doors in their faces. That was the beginning of the deep turn Hearts began to suffer, and just around that time the team faced their bitterest rivals Asante Kotoko and suffered one of their most regrettable defeats with a lone goal scored by their own trusted goalkeeper Abdulaye Soulaima at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Then the plans to throw away Kenichi and the replacement with coach Sergio Traguil came to worsen matters, as the team could no longer jell to the satisfaction of the fans. Now with Traguil pushed aside and his assistant Yaw Preko, an old player of the club now in the driving seat, it looks as if all is well with their "operation nine points" with the last victory over Ebusua Dwarfs serving as the beginning of better things to come, does it appear that Hearts dream of ending their cup drought is becoming a reality?

The fight has not ended, but in reality this is a premier league that must go down as one of the most sensational in the ­finishing point.

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