Soccer News of Thursday, 9 September 2004

Source: GNA

Finals of GHALCA knockout fixed for Oct 6

Accra, Sept 9, GNA - The first encounter of the two-leg finals of the Ghana League Club Association (GHALCA) special knockout between favourites, Asante Kotoko and Real Tamale United (RTU) has been scheduled for Wednesday, October 6, at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.

The second leg, fixed for the Accra Sports Stadium- RTU's adopted home for the finals- is not certain and would be contingent on a number of factors chiefly among them, the number of Kotoko players invited into the Black Stars for the Ghana-DR Congo World Cup qualifiers on October 10.

Mr Kudjo Fianoo, Administrative Manager of GHALCA, told the GNA sports in Accra that the association had planned one-match finals at the Accra Sports Stadium due to the tight soccer calendar but the two competing finalists opted for the two-leg.

He said the association was considering a myriad of alternatives, which include, asking Kotoko to honour the match without their Black Stars invitees on either the Friday or Saturday before the Stars' Sunday clash or liase with the Professional League Board (PLB) for a new date.

The new date, Mr Fianoo reckons, could be problematic against the backdrop of a clumsy soccer calendar including the re-start of the delayed domestic league, the Black Stars World Cup qualifying campaign, continental assignment by Hearts of Oak and Kotoko plus other commitments by the Black Starlets and Satellites.

Kotoko got to the finals vie a smashing performance against city rivals King Faisal beating them on a 3-1 aggregate while RTU put up a spirited second leg outing to eliminate AshantiGold on penalties after both sides had levelled 2-2.