Hearts play Liberty & Okwawu in friendlies

Accra (Greater Accra) -- Champion club Accra Hearts of Oak, looking for their sixth consecutive league title, will honour two friendly matches before their epic clash with rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko at the commencement of the second round of the 2002 Premier League on 21 July.

A Hearts management source told Ghana Review International sports that on Sunday the Rainbows will lock horns with back to form Okwawu United at the Accra Sports Stadium, before attempting on Wednesday to unlock the myth surrounding matches between them and Liberty Professionals, which has made their clash always tough.

The source assured that Hearts will use the occasions to give their opponents severe thrashing, especially Liberty, and as result, are approaching the matches with all seriousness. All leading players of the club will as such be in action. The source hinted GRi Sports that Hearts will use the trials to shape their newly signed-ons into the team, notably Ishmael Addo, Emmanuel Osei Kuffuor, Togolese Farouk Coubaja and former Egypt El-Ahly star Fuseini Yakubu for possible inclusion in the Hearts line-up against Kotoko.

It said since the seven-point gap between the club and Kotoko, who are currently warming up in South Africa, does not call for complacency, and with a victory over Kotoko opening a 10-point gap, nothing would be left to chance.

The Hearts source however, urged the club?s numerous supporters and the red army of Asante Kotoko to comport themselves in a sporting manner when the two giants of Ghana soccer meet at the Accra Stadium in two weeks time. It said it is worthwhile for soccer fans to be mindful of the disaster that rocked the nation when the two sides met on 9 May last year. ?Any unruly act by any group or individuals having a tendency to stir memories of what befell the nation last year would mean no lessons were learnt from that predicament,? the source stressed.

Meanwhile, both Liberty and Okwawu have assured their teeming fans of being the first club sides to dent the Phobians in the season, which they said, would come by way of Sunday and next Wednesday?s friendlies.