Can Hearts make another first ?

The Current African Champions, Accra Hearts of Oak, broke an 89-year old club jinx last month with a 4-2 goal aggregate win over Esperance club of Tunisia to be crowned the CAF Champions league for the first time- but come Sunday at the Kumasi Stadium, the question is, can they make it another first?
The Phobians would be pitching their strength against one of the most experienced teams on the continent and two times winners of the African Super Cup, Zamalek club of Egypt, who arrived barely four days ago, hoping to annex the cup for keeps.
The North African club, won the trophy in 1993 and later in 1996. Hearts of Oak after breaking that old jinx, seemed to be content with their victory and not until last week that the team started playing series of trial matches against local clubs to toughen their players.
The relaxed attitude of the team was partly due to the new assignment given to their coach, Jones Attuquayefio as the helmsman of the Blacks Stars. However many connoisseurs of the game believed that with the core of Attuquayefio's players like Osei Kuffour and Jacob Nettey forming part of the regular national team, it would rather be a misplaced statement to say the players have been idle.
Attuquyefio's biggest challenge however is how to get over the 1-3 drubbing dished out to the National team by the Lone Stars of Liberia in his debut home match as the Stars' coach. He lost his first match to the Simbas of Congo DR.
Many fans believed that performance at the club level is quite different from the national team, and the earlier Attuquyefio psyche his players for the task ahead the better.
Zamalek appears to be the busiest of the two clubs because while the north African league is still in session, Ghana's FA is yet to get over some legal tussles over relegation and promotion, creating doubt when the local league will take off. That perhaps accounts for the apparent inactivity of the Phobians.
One major task for Attuquayefio on Sunday would be how to counter the strategy of former Stars coach, Otto Pfister who now heads the technical bench of the visitors. Papa Otto as he is affectionately called seemed to know much about the Ghanaian soccer terrain and the psyche of Ghanaian players.
But Attuquayefio would take solace in the fact that apart from Jacob Nettey, Osei Kuffour, Stephen Tetteh, Agyeman Duah, Amankwa Mireku and goalkeeper Sammy Adjie and Ishmeal Addo who are members of the Black Stars, a few others including Taylor are members of the national under-20 team who have been playing trial matches regularly.
The only problem is how to blend the active with the less active ones to form a compact team on Sunday.
The players themselves have placed so much premium on the Super Cup so much that it will be very difficult to imagine them losing at their second home in Kumasi.
Africa top scorer Emmanuel Osei Kuffour who banged in 10 goal during the last Champions' League and his partner, Ishmeal Addo, have vowed to add the Super Cup to their collections. Hearts have already won 1998/1999 domestic league, the FA cup and the Champions league.
Possible line up for Hearts: Sammy Adjei, Amankwa Mireku, Skipper Jacob Nettey, Agyeman Duah, Stephen Tetteh, Adjah Tetteh, Charles Allotey, Joe Ansah, Ishmael Addo, Osei Kuffour and Emmanuel Adjogu.