The Ghana premier league 2021/2022 season has been a very tough, competitive, and exciting one. It has produced a lot of memories that will be remembered for time immemorial. Aside the excitements, controversy has also played its role with lot of complaints from almost all the 18 teams week in- work-out. Refereeing has been the talk of every match day but we shouldn’t forget that referees are officiating without video assistant referee so we have to cope with it and hope that the punishment given to referees change them for good.
Ahead of the season, pundits and football lovers across the country made their predictions as to which teams are favorite. Almost all pundits predicted current league champions Accra Hearts of Oak to defend their title followed by bitter rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko and the like of Aduana Stars, Medeama SC, Ashanti Gold and the rest in that order. However, pundits and football experts who predicted Kotoko to win the title are just some three wins for Kotoko to see their predictions come to pass.
Asante Kotoko started the season very well with a great comeback against Dreams FC. It was a very tough match that Kotoko could have lost on any day but their fighting spirit kept them in the game as they went on to win. This was followed by a couple of wins and some few draws till they recorded their first lost of the season to their city rivals, King Faisal FC by 3 goals to 2. The team bounced back to win a couple of games before crowning their great performance with a 2 nil win against Dormaa based Aduana Stars. In fact this was the first time Asante Kotoko has won a game at Dormaa since Aduana gained promotion to the Ghana Premier league. Dr. Prosper Nerteh Ogum and his boys kept on fighting till now leading the league table by 8 clear points.
The season has been fantastic so far with the team producing some magical moments both home and away from Baba Yara. In fact this team is gradually making Baba Yara fearsome once again and the teams Performce has been compared to the great days of 2002/2003, and 2007/2008 seasons where the stadium was know as the fast strike. We hope that this is just the beginning as fans are crazily waiting to witness same scorelines in the Caf Champions League. In this same season the Nana Yaw Amponsah led administration has recorded their first ever victory against bitter rivals Accra Hearts of Oak after recording a 1:0 win at the dreaded Baba Yara Sports stadium. As if that’s not enough, the team has also broke their Sogakope curse by recording their first ever win against WAFA by one goal to nil.
Talisman Frank Mbella Etouga has also broken the long standing record of goals scored in a single season by Eric Bekoe in the 2007/2008 season. Mbella has who broke Bekoe’s record of 17 goals has now scored 19 premier league goals with six more Matches to play. The form of the team has improved tremendously as compared to last season and it is no surprising that with just 3 wins and a draw will see Kotoko crowned champions of the Ghana premier league 2021/2022 season.
The journey has not been an easy one but with unity and hard work, the team has come this far. Big ups the the management for taking their time to do a proper recruitment for the team. We hope the next recruitment will bring in more quality players for the upcoming African Champions league. Again the technical team are also doing a very wonderful job looking at the number of injuries the team has sustained throughout the season. Players have been managed very well to make sure the team remains on top of the league. The playing body has also been committed throughout the season and big ups also to the medical team. The entire team has really put up a good fight for day one till now. Inspite of injuries and poor refereeing decisions against us, they have not lift their sight off the championship. At this moment, time is the only thing that will tell what happens in the next fixtures. The destiny of the team is in their own hands now. Win 3 and draw one to be crowned champions. I believe strongly in this team to deliver because of what they have shown this season. It the final lap and we expecting the players and the technical team to rise to the occasion as they have done throughout the season.
Article by Felix Yeboah