Hearts Start Champions League Campaign

Accra Hearts of Oak are set to make amends after two years of unsuccessful campaign at the continental level when they lock horns with AS Doune of Togo in the preliminaries of this years CAF Champions League today.

The Phobians, who failed to glitter on two previous occasions after taking Africa by storm in 2000 would have no option than to win big against their opponents to put them on a smooth path for qualification to the next round before the second leg match to be played in Togo in two weeks time.

Also, a good performance would boost the morale of the team to go ahead and make an impact in this year's champion's league.

Having bowed out of last year's championship via a false start, it would be in the interest of the team to move past Douane to fulfil their pledge of going far this year.

Indeed, it is a sigh of relief that the rainbow shirts have expressed their zeal to put recent developments in and around the club behind them for the sake of the campaign.

Perhaps the club had noticed early enough that all hands must be on deck to ensure a resounding victory.

To the connoisseurs of game, there could not have been a better decision than the resolve of the Phobians to put their full concentration on the match.

With the team already in high spirits, irrespective of the depletion of the squad via various reasons including player truancy, absenteeism and resignation, the club is still bent on taking Africa by storm yet again.


Last year, Hearts attributed their first round exit to inadequate preparations and they seem to have learnt from their mistakes by embarking on a six-week pre-season training at Keta in the Volta Region at the beginning o f the year.


Their participation in the LG Top Four Tourney also appears to have contributed to a good preparation for the championship this year, even though they failed to glitter in the tournament.


To a school of thought, the league champions are yet to prove whether the absence of influential player, Charles Taylor would affect the team or not though Hearts have managed to win some important games without the dribbling wizard.

The striker who was set to lead the team both at the local and continental scene might have jilted the team at the wrong time but information gathered by the GNA Sports from Hearts' board room, training grounds and the team's camp indicates that though the team would miss the SWAG player of the year's absence, the team has been through the necessary psyching to enter Sunday's game with the right mental frame.


In any case, though the Phobians look stronger on paper with an array of super stars, the global leather game has moved way beyond past glories and predictions and taking the Togollese for granted could spell doom for their aspirations.


Unlike the Phobians who had a stand by in their first stages, Douane qualified to this stage by holding El Nguema of Equatorial Guinea to a goalless drawn game away, before piping them by a lone goal in Lome in the return encounter.


It is against this backdrop that the Hearts' set up from the Boafos in defence to the Alloteys in the midfield through the Don Borteys and Kuffours in attack must do the usual swift build-ups to annihilate their opponents on Sunday to make the second leg a done deal.