GRi Sports Ghana 18 - 12 - 2000
Carnival in Accra, as Hearts win African
Champions league
Hearts fans jubilate countrywide
Soccer-Jones expresses disgust at Chokri's
behaviour
Soccer-African Champions League gets semis,
more money
Soccer-Tough
African Champions league draw for Hearts of Oak
Carnival in Accra, as Hearts win African
Champions league
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 December 2000
Accra Hearts of Oak trounced Esperance of Tunisia 3-1 at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday to win the 2000 edition of the African Champions league.
Esperance kicked off but soon lost possession to Hearts who created the first chance of the match but an excellent tackle by Azaize Wali earned the Phobians a corner, which was wasted.
The tournaments' goal king, Emmanuel Osei Kuffour wasted another opportunity to put Hearts ahead in the fifth minute after being set up by Ishmael Addo.
Chokri Elouaer in goal for Esperance struggled to tip a thunderbolt from Kuffour over the bar in the eighth minute and the Hearts blitz continued until the 13th minute when the Tunisians took over.
Propelled forward by their Brazilian duo of Aliluia Reinald and Adalton Periera, the Tunisians ran rings around Hearts defenders and Hassan Gabsy scored the first goal in the 17th minute when he glided a header into the net from a corner kick.
The early goal brought out the best in the Tunisians, who increased the tempo of the game and subjected Hearts to copy-book drills, spiced with hard running and swift shuffling.
The entire Hearts team became jittery and their mistakes multiplied as the Tunisians pressed forward, looking for the second goal.
Hearts started the second half with greater determination with the inclusion of Emmanuel Adjogu and Edmund Copson for Charles Allotey and Adjah Tetteh and Chokri had to rush forward to deny Adjogu in the 53rd minute.
The Hearts initiative soon fizzled out as the Tunisians took control of the game once more with quick attacking variations.
In the 72nd minute, Hearts brought in Osumanu Amadu for Charles Taylor, who appeared too frail and weak to withstand the physical play of the Tunisians.
Two minutes later, the game came to a momentary end when displeased Hearts fans started pelting the their own bench with water sachets.
The police responded by firing tear gas into the crowd at the upper terrace and pandemonium broke out as fans scampered for escape routes.
Many fans found their way to the inner perimeter of the stadium while the Tunisians' bench rushed to the field apparently, to get away from the noxious gas.
In the confusion, Esperance's skipper and goalkeeper, Elouier inflicted an injury on himself by bashing his head with an empty tear gas canister to deceive the South African match officials.
Unfortunately for him, he was, spotted by the first assistant referee, Achmet Salie who reported the incident to the central referee, Robin Williams.
Chokri was carried out on a stretcher and Hassan Gabsy moved into the post because Esperance had exhausted their substitution.
When calm and order were restored after 18 minutes, the referee signalled for the re-commencement of the game and Hearts exploited their numerical advantage and Kuffour equalised with a half volley in the 83rd minute, which caught Gabsy flatfooted.
The goal upset the Tunisians and they became very temperamental, as they resorted to punching and butting Hearts players at the list contact.
Azaiez Walid was red carded in the 85th minute after butting goalkeeper Sammy Adjei and Stephen Tetteh in quick succession.
His expulsion further reduced the potency of Esperance as they had to play with nine men against a full set Hearts.
It was therefore a matter of course when Ishmael Addo cushioned hearts lead with a brilliant effort, three minutes into added time, bringing the aggregate score to 5-2 in favour of Hearts, who won the first leg a fortnight ago by 2-1 in Tunis.
The Tunisians snubbed the presentation ceremony and walked into their dressing room while Vice President Evans Atta Mills presented the cup to skipper
Jacob Nettey after the gold medals were given by Mr Issa Hayatou, President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Soon after the match Accra, the capital city of Ghana was thrown into a state of carnival as jubilant fans took to the streets drumming, singing and dancing to the tune of brass band music and the local "kpalongo" thythm.
Beer bars and drinking parlours were jam- packed and the celebrations continued into the night.
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Hearts fans jubilate countrywide
Takoradi (Western Region) 18 December 2000
Football enthusiasts and supporters of Accra Hearts of Oak in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis went gay and took to the streets in celebration of the victory of the club in the final match of the African Club Cup at the Accra sports stadium on Sunday.
During the first half of the game, when Esperance of Tunis scored the opening goal, many of the supporters could not contain themselves but went wild when Hearts found the equaliser.
There was jubilation all over the city with drivers tooting their horns, while the beating of drums could be heard all over.
Children and the elderly were not left out of the jubilation when the second and third goals were registered by Hearts. Shouts of Phobia, phobia, phobia, the boys are good and other appellations echoed throughout the city with drinking bars recording unprecedented influx of customers, coming to celebrate the victory.
The story was not different in Tema where fans continued to shout the slogans for Hearts, "Phobia, our boys are good" and sang dirges in praise of the Champion Club.
Mr Maxwell Aduafo, a football fan, who supports Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs said the victory for Hearts is a victory for Ghana soccer, and praised Ghanaians for giving the Champion Club an overwhelming support that has contributed to lifting of "this African Cup of honour".
Mr Kofi Anoh, who supports Kotoko, praised Hearts for their victory, but said they made Ghanaians to sit on thorns for a long time, before coming out with the needed goals for victory.
Mr. Kingsley Dasi, also Kotoko supporter said, with their good performance, Hearts deserves the African Club Cup, and cautioned them not to rest on their oars so that they can make Ghana proud when they go to Spain next year for the World Club competition.
Sulemana Bansi, Hearts spokesman for site one who has hoisted the club's flag for the past five months said, "I will soon sit down with other supporters in the area to plan a big victory celebration within the next few days even before the end of the Moslem Ramadan".
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Soccer-Jones expresses disgust at Chokri's
behaviour
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 December 2000
Mr Jones Attuquayefio, head coach of Accra Hearts of Oak has expressed disgust at the unprofessional behaviour of Esperance veteran goalkeeper Chokri Elouier adding " I will recommend him for sanctioning from the football authorities when I have my way."
"For an experienced player of his calibre to take an empty tear gas canister to inflict an injury on himself to have a team disqualified is unpardonable, but luckily for us the assistant referee saw everything"
He let his team down when they had the opportunity to give Hearts a very good run for the trophy but he, as captain showed a bad example.
On the Match, Jones said he did not panic when the team was a goal down because Hearts had found themselves in such situations on many occasions and knew his players had the ability to overturn events.
He said he has inculcated into the team the spirit of resilience and knew "that until the bones are rotten" they have not lost and would at all cost come out victorious.
Jones said he would take a week's break for the Christmas and ponder over his next move before starting preparations for the World Clubs Championship in Spain and the Champions of Champions match against Zamalek in February.
"Whatever Hearts has achieved today is a victory for discipline, respect for each other from management, players, technical staff as well as the fans, who have stayed with the team through thick and thin".
Mr. Ato Ahwoi, Executive Board Chairman of the team, said the victory had not yet sunk in and would take him some time to come to terms with what the players have achieved for Hearts, the country and themselves.
" I think the changes made by the coach made the difference because this changed the whole direction of the game after the Tunisians seemed to be on top.
He thanked the fans for their support and said the celebrations are not yet over, adding that "tonight we would present the cup to the Council of Patrons and on Monday go on a float through the principal streets of Accra and present the Cup to the President at the Castle.
Skipper Jacob Nettey, was lost of words as he could not describe how he felt after captaining the team to win the cup that had eluded the Club for many years.
" We knew the game was not going to easy and we prepared very well but we were a little bit disturbed when the Tunisians took the lead but we remained undaunted because it was not the first we have fallen behind in such matches"
Osei Kuffor, who emerged the goal-king in this year’s African Championships League said "I feel great and think my performance merits the best player award in this year's competition".
He said his next step is to focus on the World Clubs Championship and the Champions of Champions match and then move to Europe to continue his career.
Ofei Ansah, the Assistant Coach, who was a player of the team when they last played in the final in 1979, said he felt great to be a member of the team in another capacity to win the cup for the first time.
" This is a year for Accra Hearts of Oak and never did I think Esperance would be able to stand in our way, even though until the unfortunate behaviour of their goalkeeper they had given a very good account of themselves"
He asked all fans to celebrate with Accra Hearts of Oak since the victory is not only for Hearts fans but for Ghana soccer as a whole.
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Soccer-African Champions League gets semis,
more money
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 December 2000
The African Champions League has been expanded to include a semifinal round next year while the prize money for the winner has been increased to a $1million, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced in Accra on Saturday.
The last four years has seen an eight-team league format with two group winners qualifying automatically for the final. But CAF, in an attempt to add more interest into the event, will now have a set of semifinal matches after the completion of the group phase of the competition. The winner of each group will play the runner-up in the other.
The matches will be played home and away over two legs in November. CAF have also changed the rules to determine group winners in the case of teams being level on points.
Instead of goal difference, the first deciding criteria will now be head-to-head records, as is the case in the European Champions League.
Had the new formula been applied this year, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa rather than Esperance of Tunisia would have qualified for final from group A.
CAF, who are to sign a new television and marketing contract for the African Champions League with French marketing firm Groupe Jean-Claude Darmon in February, said the financial rewards for the Champions League would be considerably increased.
As well as the $1million prize for the winner, the runners-up will get $700 000 and the losing semifinalists $450 000 each. The other prizes are $275,000 for the third placed group finishers and $200,000 each for the teams that finish bottom of each group.
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Soccer-Tough
African Champions league draw for Hearts of Oak
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 December
2000
CAF Champions and Ghana's League Champions,
Accra Hearts of Oak, have been given a tough start to next year's campaign.
The Confederation of African
Football (CAF) in Accra released the draw for all three of Africa's club
competitions next year on Saturday.
Hearts' 5-2 winners of the 2000
edition over Esperance de Tunisia are the domestic and FA champions, making it
a treble just as Manchester United of 1999.
Esperance, who like Hearts of Oak
qualify as domestic champions, have a much easier start with a first round tie
against JS Tenere of Niger. The Tunisians are one of four former African
champions in the field.
ASEC Abidjan meet neighbours Stade
Malien in the first round, while Egypt's Al Ahli are up against the winner of
the preliminary round tie between lightweights Red Sea from Eritrea and Chad's
Tourbillon.
The 1999 winners Raja Casablanca,
whose defence of their title this year ended with a surprise defeat in the
second round, try again against either Mangasport of Gabon or USFA from Burkina
Faso, who meet in the preliminary round in February.
Clubs from Gabon were allowed late
entry into next year's competitions after missing the November 30 deadline set
by CAF.
TP Mazembe Englebert from the
Democratic Republic of Congo will be seeking to rekindle memories of their
double triumph in the late 1960s when they return to the Champions League field
for the first time in over a decade.
In next year's African Cup
Winners' Cup, holders Zamalek of Egypt start the defence of their title with an
first round tie against the Sudanese representatives, who still have to be
decided.
Zamalek head a strong field that
includes two other former continental champions Club African of Tunisia and the
Moroccan Royal Armed Forces club.
The sentimental attention will be
on Algerian second division club CR Ben Tour, whose upset win in the Algerian
Cup in October was the first trophy triumph by any club from the country's vast
southern desert region.
Ben Tour, basically a village
team, play in the first round against Gambia's Steve Biko, a side named after
the South African black consciousness leader killed in police detention during
the apartheid era.
CAF Cup holders JS Kabylie have a
bye into the second round of a surprisingly small field, as entries to the
competition have been restricted by the growing financial crisis of clubs
around Africa.
Also given a bye are two-time CAF
Cup winners Etoile Sahel, who will get to keep the golden trophy in the shape
of the African continent if they win it a third time next year.
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