President Rawlings greets Hearts

PRESIDENT Jerry John Rawlings has sent a goodwill message to Accra Hearts of Oak as the club prepare to host Esperance in the final of finals of the CAF Champions League at the Accra Stadium on Sunday. In the message, President Rawlings said that another victory for Hearts in Sunday's crucial battle will be a fitting climax to their past and present efforts to reach the top.

The President said that victory will also "certainly be an indication of the direction that Ghana's football will want to go in the new century, and serve as a challenge and inspiration to other teams at both national and club levels to excel.? President Rawlings, who used the occasion to congratulate the management, handlers and players of the club on behalf of the government and the people of Ghana for their earlier performances both at home and abroad, said the win over Esperance in Tunis in the first leg "left no doubt in anyone's mind as to the determination of Hearts of Oak to prove their supremacy both at home here in Ghana and on the continent."

He said the continental engagement that faces Hearts now places the entire nation on the glory with which Ghana has always been identified ? a mastery in the game of football. The Head of State again congratulated the club on their 89th anniversary which, he said they had celebrated in style on November 11,2000 by qualifying for the final.

"The expected triumph on Sunday in Accra will certainly be a joyous Christmas present for all Ghanaians who, I hope, as President of this dear nation, will not see the challenge as mere club affair but will all come together as one people committed to achieving a goal that will be reckoned among the several achievements of our nation," he emphasised.