Kotoko Failure Against Kadiogo : Asante Kotoko are the newest Ghanaian club to fail in Africa following their elimination from the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League by RC Kadiogo of Burkina Faso.
The Burkinabes defeated the champions of Ghana by 1-0 last Sunday to close the Champions League second leg tie at 1-1 on aggregate at the Babayara stadium. RC Kadiogo went ahead to win the ensuing penalty shoot-out by 3-1 to advance to the next round of the competition.
It was the worst ever failure of the Porcupine Warriors in Africa since the MC Eulma disaster of 5th April 2015. In that game , Kotoko were beaten 2-1 by the Algerian side in a packed Babayara stadium. The team of David Duncan had drawn 0-0 in Algeria but the reverse game in Kumasi was a complete disaster.
The home fans were heartbroken and at full time the police had to transport the Kotoko players from the stadium in armoured vehicles as the irate fans threatened to physically attack the players.
Since that the season more Africa set-backs have followed but the latest elimination against RC Kadiogo is the worst.
In 2018 Kotoko saw another Africa elimination against CARA Brazzaville in the CAF Confederation Cup – they won 1-0 in Kumasi where they missed three different penalties. The team lost the second leg by 1-0 in Brazzaville and lost the tie on penalties on foreign soil.
The recent failures against Etoile du Sahel , FC San Pedro in the 2019/20 season and Al Hilal in 2019/20 season were all completed on foreign soil.
However , against RC Kadiogo , Kotoko earned the praises of most Ghanaians for beating the Burkina Faso team in Benin but when it mattered most , they bottled it in front of their home fans ; first by losing the game and secondly by losing the penalty shoot-out.
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