A great domestic rivalry moves on to the international stage this weekend when Ghanaian club giants Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko clash in the first leg of the African Confederation Cup final.
It will be the first time teams from the same country feature in the climax of a Confederation of African Football competition, apart from the one-off start-of-season Super Cup fixture, which has twice been an all-Egypt affair.
Scheduled for November and December, the final was postponed because of elections in the West African country between the original match dates and fears that political rivalry could spill into the football arena.
The decades-old struggle for supremacy between Hearts, based in the coastal capital, Accra, and Kotoko (from the biggest inland city, Kumasi) is among the greatest on the continent.
Hearts-Kotoko clashes rank beside those between Al-Ahly and Zamalek in Cairo, Raja and Wydad in Casablanca, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates in Johannesburg and Motema Pembe and Vita in Kinshasa as magnetic crowd-pullers.
Ironically, Hearts and Kotoko are contesting the first Confederation Cup final after beginning the year with loftier ambitions having qualified for the richer, more prestigious African Champions League.
But they suffered penalty shootout losses against North African opponents in the third and final qualifying round for the mini league phase. Hearts fell to Etoile Sahel of Tunisia and Kotoko to Usma of Algeria.
Modelled on the European Uefa Cup, the Confederation Cup offers a second chance to second-round losers in the Champions League, and Hearts and Kotoko won tough playoffs before topping four-club pools to reach the decider.
Hearts needed a home win over Cotonsport Garoua of Cameroon in their last engagement and the 3-2 victory margin flattered the visitors whose goals came in stoppage time after Louis Agyeman had struck twice for the Phobians.
It was a timely return to form by the striker, who had not scored in nine previous African ties. Prince Tagoe is another predator Kotoko will respect after his hat-trick destroyed another Cameroon club, Sable Batie, in Accra.
In 14 matches en route to the final, nine players have been on target for Hearts, who changed coaches in mid-campaign with German Ernst Middendorp returning home and Jones Attuquayefio recalled after a spell as Benin coach.
Attuquayefio occupies a special place in the affections of Hearts supporters, having led the club to its only major African title, the 2000 Champions League. They also lifted the Super Cup the following year.
Asante have a dismal record in African finals, winning only two of seven in the Champions League (formerly Cup) and also failing in their lone Cup Winners Cup appearance.
The successes came in 1970 and 1983 when the Porcupine Warriors were the dominant force in Ghana, but since the late 1990s Hearts have taken over, winning the league six consecutive times before Kotoko finished top last year.
Former African Footballer of the Year Abdul Razak, the coach behind the Asante resurgence, lost his post to German Hans Kodric, whose brief tenure ended when compatriot Hans-Dieter Schmidt was put in charge.
Kotoko have been less impressive than Hearts, needing a marginally superior head-to-head record to pip Enugu Rangers for first place in Group A after the Nigerians finished with a better goal difference.
The Porcupines lack a consistent goal poacher with leading marksmen Shilla Alhassan, Yusif Chibsah, Nana Arhin Duah and Stephen Oduro managing just three each from 12 outings.
But temperamental midfielder Charles Taylor, one of many national team players on view in the final, is a potential match winner through his ability to carve open the tightest defence with a cunning pass.
African form suggests Hearts establishing a first-leg lead, having won their seven Champions League and Confederation Cup matches with a 17-4 goal tally, while Kotoko have not won away, drawing three games and losing three.
The return match will be staged on January 9 in the Kumasi Sports Stadium and an aggregate deadlock will be broken either by the away-goal rule or a penalty shootout. — Sapa-AFP