Bortey Deserts Hearts

Accra Hearts of Oak left for Mali this morning without Bernard Dong-Bortety, but were still confident of a good result in Sunday?s CAF Champions League battle against Stade Malien at the Omnisport Modibo Keita Stadium in Bamako.

The fast winger preferred travelling to Germany to embark on trials with Bundesliga side, Hamburg SV, to joining his colleagues for the crucial away encounter. Consequently, he went to the extent of ignoring an ultimatum by the club?s Interim Management Committee (IMC) Chairman, Mr Thomas Okine, to join the team to Mali.

According to an official of the club, things got to a head yesterday when the player showed no remorse during a telephone chat with Mr Okine. As a result management had no option than to black Bortey out of its plans for Sunday?s duel and travel with 19 players to face the Stade Malien challenge.

However, Emmanuel Osei Kuffour who also took a strong stance not to rejoin the team finally made the trip after joining his colleagues in camp last Monday following the intervention of Coach Ernst Middendorp. And for the no-nonsense Middendorp, Bortey?s absence might be a blessing in disguise to enable him to give some young talents in the team a chance to prove themselves.

Sunday?s match will therefore be a good platform for youngsters like Abdul Samad Okocha, Prince Tagoe and Frank Kornu to exhibit how they can fare on the big stage. Fortunately for Hearts, they still have in their fold some experienced players who can match up to the standard of the Champions League following previous campaigns with both club and national teams.

Talk of players like Osei Kuffour, Dan Quaye, Amankwaa Mireku, Dan Coleman, Kwabena Boafo, Lawrence Adjei, Lawrence Adjah-Tetteh and goalkeeper Sammy Adjei, and you will be referring to performers who can rise to the occasion at any given time.

What will perhaps represent another advantage for Hearts is that almost all of them were in the team which was painfully eliminated by their opponents via a 4-2 aggregate during the 2002 Champions League qualifiers. Obviously, that defeat will give the Hearts players the impetus to go for revenge this time.

However, much will depend on how best the players would adapt to whatever strategy to be mapped up by Coach Middendorp due to his short stay with the team. The fact that Hearts are playing away makes the duel a tough one as Stade Malien are no pushovers.

Though they cannot be counted among the heavy weights in Africa at club level, they can also not be easily written off following their stubborn nature.Having been beaten by a convincing 3-1 scoreline before by the Malians who were then under Ghanaian coach, Abdul Razak, Hearts will be the first to appreciate the difficult nature of this first leg.

But as the saying goes, ?once bitten, twice shy?. That will be the Phobians? watchword when they struggle against the odds on Sunday