Hearts boss confident his side will qualify over Wydad AC in return leg in Casablanca
Samuel Boadu, Head Coach of Accra Hearts of Oak, says they are sure of qualification to the next stage of the competition despite their narrow win over Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco in the first leg of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Champions League at the Accra Sports Stadium, last Sunday.
A solitary strike from Isaac Mensah handed Hearts of Oak victory in the second round first leg encounter of the 2021/22 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
Speaking in a post-match interview, coach Boadu said he was happy with the team’s performance but insisted that they could have scored more if his players were composed in front of goal.
“It was a very good game tactically. Most people thought we couldn’t score a goal here, with the thinking that they had good players compared to us. But on the field of play you could see that we had good players that could stand our opponent.
“It was quite unfortunate we couldn’t score more goals but we are okay with the one goal that we score. We needed composure in the final third but we couldn’t exhibit that calmness in front goal but we have learnt a lot from this clash and we are going to work on it and improve.
“From here it is all about game management in the second leg and if we get good officiating in the second leg we can get a goal in Morocco. We can also go out there to win and qualify for the group stages.
“The fans should not give up because that is our motto. We are going out there to make sure we qualify,” he said
Coach Boadu remained hopeful of getting his squad fully fit for the reverse fixture especially Raddy Ovouka’s who was substituted in the first half due to injury.
Samuel Boadu bizarre claim: ‘It was unfortunate we could not score more goals against Wydad’
Accra Hearts of Oak head coach, Samuel Boadu has said that they could have scored more goals in their CAF Champions League first leg against Wydad Athletic Club.
The Ghana Premier League champions squeezed out a 1-0 win over the Moroccan giants on Sunday at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Striker Isaac Mensah scored the only goal of the game in the first half of the game to keep Hearts of Oak chances of playing the group phase alive.
Ibrahim Salifu and Kofi Kordzie had chances in the second half to bury the game but squandered them.
After the game, Samuel Boadu said his side should’ve scored more goals considering their dominance.
“It is unfortunate we couldn’t get more goals because we had some good chances,” he said
‘We need to have more composure in front of goal, and it’s something we’re working on.
“We proved we are a good enough team to stand toe to toe with Wydad Club. They came in to try and get an away goal, but we were able to stop them,” he added
Hearts, who are making their return to the competition for the first time in 11 years will be hoping for a good result in Casablanca to send them to the group stages, against odds.
