Hearts now play Liberian Club

Liberian outfit, Bendu FC, will test the strength of Ghanaian champions, Accra Hearts of Oak, in an international friendly at the Accra stadium on Sunday. Bendu FC replaces Kwara FC of Nigeria who communicated their inability to arrive in Ghana to honour the match on Thursday, necessitating their substitution with the Liberian team.

Bendu FC, Liberia's CAF Cup representatives this year, by virtue of their third placing on their national league, have declared 'war' on four other top Ghanaian sides in their five-match training tour of the country. Wonder Club, Accra Great Olympics, will first taste the make-up of Bendu in what appears a match of equals at the Accra Stadium tomorrow.

The Liberian team will then play Abedi Pele's Nania FC, a division two side, on Wednesday at the Legon Park before taking on Liberty Professionals next week Friday at the Accra Stadium. Their final game in Ghana will be against 2002 Cup Winners Cup finalists, Kumasi Asante Kotoko. All the Ghanaian opponents in Bendu FC's international engagements, except for Nania FC, will vie for honours in the second GHALGA Top Four championship expected to begin from February 23.

Representing a respected force back home in Liberia, Bendu will give the Ghanaians good tests before they in turn engage one another in the LG-Sponsored competition next monthHeart of Oak appear set to have the better part of the Liberian side after their game against Olympics just the previous day.

Fatigue could prove the undoing of Bendu on Sunday, but they still have sounded a great warning to the champion club obliging them to a real showdown.Technical Director, Gotolo Johnson, has fired strong wards to all opponents, boasting of the high standards his team has attained in the last weeks and months, promising to apply the brakes on all their opponents, including Hearts and Kotoko.

He may have bitten more than he could chew but that can only be proven by the standards Olympics, Hearts, Nania, Liberty and Kotoko put up when the occasion calls for on the respective days.And as Johnson said, their attention now is on Hearts who have earned a big reputation after winning their sixth title in a row.These matches will also provide fans with what to expect from their idols in the coming season.