The mysterious reason behind Hearts of Oak's defeat in 1977 CAF Champions League final

Some Hearts of Oak supporters remain baffled as to how the club failed to win the 1977 African Cup of Champions Clubs (now CAF Champions League) despite having arguably the best squad in club history, led by the fearsome five.

Despite their devastating attack, Hearts were defeated 1-0 by Haifa of Guinea in the first leg of the final and went on to lose 4-2 on aggregate.

Heart of Oak had staged a staggering comeback to eliminate Zambian side Mufulira Wanderers F.C. in the semi-finals, with the fans believing that they were in for a show in the final, especially playing in Accra first.

Their attack was made of Mohammed Polo, Mama Bomber Acquah, Peter 'best man' Lamptey(goal thief), Robert Hammond, and Anas 'Thunderman' Seidu who were dubbed the fearsome five and had led them to overturn a 5-2 first leg loss to qualify for the final 5-5 on aggregate.

The 'Fearsome Five' were involved in all five goals scored over the two legs. Robert Hammond and Mama Acquah scored the two-way goals in the first leg while Polo, Lamptey, and Seidu joined in on the action in the second leg.

But their scoring boots went missing when in the first leg in Accra, when the club need a win to get one hand on the trophy.

According to Maxwell Asabre, a former General Secretary of Hearts of Oak's National Chapters Committee, the team could not score in the first leg because they were told that the player who would score in the first leg would die.

"We were in camp and they told us that the player who will score will die. So in Accra in the first leg, we got a penalty and Anas Seidu deliberately missed because he was afraid to die," he told Dan Kwaku Yeboah TV while narrating how Anas Seidu was harassed at the stadium in recent years.

Watch the interview below from the 26th minutes



EE/KPE