Hearts of Oak beat Asante Kotoko in the President’s Cup: In the cup match at the Accra Sports Stadium, the winger’s goal was the deciding factor.
Hearts of Oak defeated Asante Kotoko 2-1 in the Ghana President’s Cup on Friday thanks to a Patrick Razak goal.
After Samuel Boateng canceled off Daniel Afriyie Barnieh’s opening for the Phobians, the winger scored late to win it all.
The match was performed in honor of Ghana’s current president, Nana Akufo-Addo, just two weeks after the two clubs drew 0-0 in the Premier League.
Continue >>> Hearts of Oak beat Asante Kotoko 2 – 1
Sulley Muntari, a former Ghana, AC Milan, and Inter Milan midfielder, captained Hearts’ first XI, making his first appearance in the cup tournament since his return to domestic football.
Mohammed Alhassan, a center-back, and Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, a promising striker, were both invited to the Black Stars recently and made the squad.
For Kotoko, their squad was led by Cameroonian striker Franck Mbella Etouga, who has dominated the GPL thus far, scoring 13 goals to lead the league in scoring.
Georges Mfegue, a compatriot, was also named to Prosper Narteh Ogum’s starting lineup, while Brazilian playmaker Fabio Gama Dos Santos was benched.
Following Etouga’s shot into the side netting in the 15th minute, Richard Lamptey followed up with a header from Mfegue’s cross that went barely wide.
On 31 minutes, Danlad Ibrahim of Kotoko made a great save to deflect Isaac Mensah’s shot over the bar. Seven minutes later, the shot-stopper would be called into action again, this time by Muntari’s free-kick.
Hearts took the lead six minutes after the break when Barnieh scored a low goal past Danlad to make it 1-0.
A few minutes later, the Phobians were on the verge of making it 2-0, but for the goalkeeper’s intervention, Muntari’s dangerous goal-bound corner was kept out.
Etouga scored with a header in the 59th minute, but the goal was disallowed due to a foul in the build-up to the shot.
In the 77th minute, Kotoko equalized when Etouga regained possession, surged into the area, and teed up replacement Boateng, who struck low into the far bottom corner.
For a brief while, it appeared like the game would end in a 1-1 draw in regular time, but Razak had other ideas, scoring in the 89th minute to sting Kotoko at the death and give the defending GPL winners bragging rights.
