Hearts moves camp to Ho

Champion Club Accra Hearts of Oak on Thursday, left Accra for Ho to continue their preparation towards the Second leg of their African Cup club Championship against Stade Malien in Mali.

The team left Accra around 5.00 pm after the afternoon's training session at the Accra Sports Stadium and would camp at Ho till they enplane to Mali next week. After the pulsating 1-1 draw with the Malian opponents at the Accra Sports Stadium last Sunday, training schedule was changed from between 4 pm - 6 pm to 1 pm – 4 pm daily because of the hot climate in Mali.

Mr Herbert Addo the new Technical Director of the club told the GNA Sports that, the hot climate in Mali is similar to that of Ho and this would help them to acclimatise well for the second leg. He said the players are not having enough concentration when training in Accra, hence the decision to move the team to Ho to ensure that the players are put in the right frame of mind.

Mr Addo expressed confidence that the team is capable of causing surprise in Mali as they had intensified their preparation towards the second leg. The club, first shifted its training from their traditional training grounds to the Accra Sports Stadium just after their encounter with the Malians recently but had to change to Ho after training once at the Stadium.

In another development, Yaw Amankwah Mireku, one of the key defenders in the team has reported for training after his long absence from the team. Amankwah, who started training on Thursday afternoon told GNA Sports that he was convinced by the Management Board of the team to start training even though he has not settled his problem with the team.

He however expressed the hope that every problem would be solved in due course as they prepare to face Stade Malien in Mali next Sunday. Amankwah refused to attend training when he returned from the just ended African Cup of Nations in Mali where he featured for the Black Stars, due to contractual problems he had with the management.

He was a regular player in the team, which won the African Cup Champions League in the year 2000 for the first time for Hearts and remained one of the consistent players for the team for the past four years. Amankwah's call up to the team is part of the management's effort to beef up the team before they travel to Mali as he did not feature in the first leg.