Club Profile: Hearts of Oak

Today, Saturday, in Tunis, Ghana's Hearts of Oak meet Esp?rance Sportive of Tunisia in the first leg of the Champions' League final. The return leg will be played in Accra on December 17.

Accra Hearts of Oak have twice broken their fans' hearts in African Champions' Cup finals, but this time - at the grand old age of 89 - the Ghanaian champions have their eyes on the big prize.

"We are ready for Esp?rance," says Harry Zakkour, Hearts' Chief Executive, of Saturday's first-leg final against the Tunisian giants. "We will battle them on the pitch. We'll never surrender until we win the cup."

Certainly, it is baffling to supporters that a club with the fortune to count in its fold generations of Ghana's finest players - the legendary Charles Kumi Gyamfi, Osei Koffi and Mohammed Polo, to name but a few - should have failed to win a single African trophy.

Despite their huge collection of domestic laurels, lack of continental success has put Hearts in the shadows of rivals Asante Kotoko, twice African champions and runners-up on four occasions.

It is not for lack of trying. In 1977, Hearts lost the Champions' Cup final 0-1 in the first leg to Hafia of Guinea at the Elwak Stadium in Accra. They subsequently lost the tie 2-3 in Conakry. Again in 1979, Hearts beat Union Douala of Cameroun 1-0 in the first leg in Accra and lost by a similar margin in the return leg. Douala then beat them 5-3 on penalties.

On Saturday, they hope to rewrite the script at the El Menzah Stadium in Tunis. A win, draw or even a narrow defeat would put them on course to secure the trophy in the return leg in Accra on December 17.

Optimism is anchored in the team's remarkable performance this season. After comfortably clinching their fourth consecutive league title, the Phobians - as they are nicknamed - showed the spirit and confidence to dominate the other three contenders in Champions' League Group B, including highly-rated Al Ahly of Cairo, to qualify for the final.

Much of the credit must go to the tactical acumen of Jones Attuquayefio, since named Ghana's national team coach. It was his master stroke to switch Emmanuel Kuffour into the attack when club officials committed what might have been seen as a suicidal act by sending top strikers Ishmael Addo and Joe Fameyeh on try-outs abroad.

Attuquayefio's intuition paid off handsomely, as Kuffour scored vital goals that helped see off Horoya of Guinea and Daring Club Motema Pembe of Congo Democratic Republic in the preliminary rounds. With Addo back in the fold, and Charles Taylor recruited from Great Olympics, Hearts negotiated the league stage brilliantly, setting a pace that their opponents could never match.

If anyone can lead them to the promised land, it is this trio. Addo is as deadly as a cobra, Kuffour's power is matched only by his opportunism, while Taylor has pace and times his runs into the box uncannily to cash in on scoring chances.

Defensively, Hearts have always been erratic, though, and there is a major question mark over the fitness of center-backs Justice Ampah, Sanni Wahab, and national goalkeeper Sammy Adjei.

But inspired by Manchester United's historic European treble, the Accra side are leaving nothing to chance. Support comes from high and low, including Ghana's Vice-President and presidential candidate John Attah Mills, recently the club's deputy chairman, and sports minister Enoch Teye Mensah, a former Hearts player.

Attuquayefio believes his charges will not be intimidated, especially after rising above El Ahly in the intimidating atmosphere of Cairo. Certainly, any coach with the luxury of the competition's top strike force can afford to go to Tunis in an upbeat mood.

But nobody epitomises better the supporters' mixture of hope and trepidation than Edward Agyemang-Duah, a player who had the misfortune of missing his spot kicks in shoot-outs that cost Ghanaian clubs Asante Kotoko and Obuasi Goldfields previous African titles. Now a key player for Hearts, he is praying it will be third time lucky for him and Ghana.