Ex-Hearts of Oak and Kotoko forward, Charles Taylor says the only antidote to facing North African clubs squarely in continental football is to have quality materials.
He made the comments in connection with the elimination of his former club, Hearts of Oak from the CAF Confederation Cup. The Phobians sold out a disastrous performance in both the CAF Champions League and the Confederation where they shipped in 10 goals and score four in the last games. Hearts of Oak dropped from the CAF Champions League; a competition they won in 2000 after suffering a 6-2 aggregate loss against Morocco giants, Wydad Athletic Club.
The second tier competition gave the club’s following a glimmer of hope when they defeated Algeria side, Jeunesse Sportive de Saoura 2-0 in the first leg at the Accra Sports Stadium. The reverse fixture however shattered the hopes after conceding 4-0 to finish the two legs 4-2 for JS Saoura. Charles Taylor has poured cold water on Ghanaian clubs making any impact in continental football any time soon due to what he says “lack of quality players.”
“Right now, no Ghanaian club can make any impact in Africa in the next 10 years. There’s no quality to compete. Some of our best players will sit on bench in North Africa clubs. Ghana lacks quality in all areas, technical, management and players,” he said on Angel TV. “There’s no trick in playing North African clubs. The trick is have quality. When we arrived in Tunisia to play Esperance in 2000, the fans said they’ll beat us 4-0. We were laughing in the bus cos we trained to win by 2-0. We won 2-1 away. We were just too good,” he added.
Charles Taylor won the 2000 CAF Champions League, 2001 CAF Super Cup with Accra Hearts of Oak. He shifted camp to arch rivals, Asante Kotoko where he featured in the finals of the 8-7 penalty shootouts defeat to Hearts of Oak in the 2004 CAF Confederation Cup at the Baba Yara Stadium.
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