By Nathaniel Nartey
Killing the dominance of Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko cannot happen. These are the words of Former Minister of Youth and Sports and Veteran Sports Journalist Nii Lante Vanderpuye on GTV Sports+ Special programme-”Saving our Passion”. He was reacting to concerns raised by other Panelists on the show that the two clubs are too strong to the extent that the other football teams are unable to catch up. This according to them is the reason only two clubs perform well in Ghana and abroad. Mr Nii Lante Vanderpuye disagreed.
“It got to a time in this country where we heard people saying let us build our team and kill the dominance of Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak. It can never happen. Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak will make the other teams better. So if Hearts and Kotoko are doing well, the other teams will do well because the other teams will set the dominant ones as their target.”
He argued that ” When Ashanti Gold came in it made Hearts and Kotoko better because Goldfields took up the task”.
His comments are timely as the two giants in Ghana football are set to face off on Sunday in Accra. In recent years, Kumasi Asante Kotoko have had favourable results in Accra while Hearts have fared better in Kumasi, almost a carbon copy of happenings in El-Classico in Spain.
The Veteran Football Commentator had his say on the involvement of local players in the Black Stars.
“The local players give competition to those who are outside. England is not doing well because of the influx of other players into the English Premier League. So if we want, improving our local league , getting people to come in will make our players better”, he opined.
Nii Lante Vanderpauye lamented the inconsistencies in Player selections for the Black Stars where 161 different players have been used in the past 2 years for major tournaments.
