Asante Kotoko’s deputy head coach Akakpo Patron has bemoaned the poor state of the pitch at the Kumasi Sports Stadium ahead of his side’s Caf Confederation Cup crucial return leg clash on Sunday.
According to him, the bad nature of the turf can partly be blamed for the porcupine warriors lack of good football when they play at home.
The Ghanaian giants are just 90 minutes away from entering the group stage of CAF’s second tier inter club competition for the first time in over a decade after posted a historic 3-2 win over Coton Sports in the first leg of the last hurdle of the qualifiers.
However, the former defender speaking to the press after the team’s training said the media has taken far too long in addressing the deplorable nature of the pitch which he believes plays a very key role in football.
“I have maximum respect for the media houses but these are some of the things you guys need to address. As you can see for yourselves, unlike in Cameroon, those who travelled with us will attest to it that in Cameroon all you see is the turf and not the soil but here you can see the soil and a lot of uneven surface. Because playing good football, teams have to train on good pitches and then you see them playing good football on good pitch and that’s how it goes.”
The Coach when asked whether the pitch had influenced his team’s lack of possessive football in their previous games answered:
“I cannot say it’s the cause but sometimes pitches also play key roles and that’s why I am saying when you train on good pitches and you come and meet a good turf also on match day, you will definitely be doing things right because you will have swift movement of the ball so we hope the authorities will have time and do it well in the future and it has to be very well managed.’’
By: Boadi Steven @owura4ever
