The coach of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Kjetil Zachariassen’s comment after Kotoko’s elimination from the CAF Champions League has divided the fans of the Kotoko, as well as, football pundits.
Zach after the game told the media that the two times champions of Africa, Kotoko is not up Champions League standard.
“This [CAF Confederation Cup] is our level at the moment. We are in Confederation Cup, I think that’s the right level for us,” Coach Zachariassen told Kotoko Express App after the match.
“We’ve got to be realistic because we have only worked together for three months”.
Comparing Kotoko to the teams that have qualified to the group stage of the Champions League, one would agree with Zach as all the qualified teams have been competing for the trophy for years. Al Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns, Zamalek, Esperance, TP Mazembe and all the other teams have either won the trophy or been qualifying to the group stage for all those years Kotoko was even struggling to win the Ghanaian League.
Though some people believe he told the ugly truth, some people believe he should be sacked for saying that.
Zach replaced C. K Akonnor as the head coach of Kotoko after C.K won the Normalization Committee Tier One Special Competition and qualifying the team to the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup for the first time in over a decade. He then “elevated” to the position of Technical Director, a position he rejected after winning the Cup. C.K, when he was signed, was told to build a team and win the CAF Champions League in three years but he was taken off his duties after he qualified the team to the Champions League less than a year into his contract.
Zach was tasked to qualify the team to the group stage of the competition. However, after eliminating Kano Pillars and scoring Etoile Sportive du Sahel 2-0 at home, some fans were optimistic that the 13-year wait of not making it to the group stage is coming to an end but at the end of the second leg, Etoile won 3-0.
Kotoko’s performance on the day was so abysmal the goalkeeper of Etoile was hardly seen in the second half of the game even when they had a player sent off.
While Zach believes his side lacked the quality to make it to the group stage of the competition, some fans believe he lacks the quality to coach Kotoko.
The fans fell his comment is an insult as he should take the blame for the bad performance of the players in Monastir, Tunisia.
With the match being played in an empty stadium and Etoile not winning a match in their last six games, the fans believed Kotoko had an upper hand over their opponent.
Zach after the first leg told the media that he will not play a defensive game in the second leg, however, after last Sunday’s game one cannot tell if he went into the game with a defensive mindset, an offensive one or both.
With Zach claiming that the Confederation Cup is Kotoko’s level, should he not be able to qualify the team to the group stage what will he tell the fans?
Will the management of Kotoko show him the exit if he fails to make it to the group stage or he will be given time to build a team?
by: Nana Asabere
