Africa Club Competition: Kotoko's curse in away games

The adventure of Asante Kotoko in Africa's club competitions for the 2019/20 season ended last weekend following their second successive away defeat to Ivorian side FC San Pedro. San Pedro defeated Kotoko by 2-0 to in the return fixture to progress 2-1 on aggregate over the two legs.

The Porcupine Warriors crashed out from the competition after travelling to Ivory Coast with a one goal advantage but their away wobbles continued making this the third consecutive time the Porcupines have failed to progressed to the group stages and beyond in Africa's elite competition as a result of bad away performances.

Ghanaweb today brings a compilation of Kotoko's bad away performances in Africa's club competition since Dr Kwame Kyei took over the club as the Executive Board Chairman and the need for the club to work on their away performances in other for them to get to the height they desire.

CARA Brazzaville 1-0 Asante Kotoko (CAF Confed Cup- Away) 21/02/18
Asante Kotoko got the nod over rivals Hearts of Oak by beating them 3-1 in the Finals of the MTN FA Cup in Temale with a hattrick from Saddick Adams to play in the preliminary stage against a Congolese football club called CARA Brazzaville.

After missing three penalties at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium out of four, Kotoko managed a lone goal win at home but were booted out of the competition 7-6 on penalties after losing the game in 90 minutes by a lone goal.

Kariobangi Sharks VS Asante Kotoko

Kotoko again represented Ghana in the Confederation Cup after the club activated a clause in the FA statues which allowed the previous winner of the FA Cup to represent the country in the absence of a current winner after the Anas number 12 expose.

This time around, under former Black Stars striker CK Akonnor, the club managed to avoid defeats in their two away games against Kariobangi Sharks and Coton Sport as they made their way to the group stages of the competition and after that the curse of the away games reared its ugly head again.

Below are Kotoko's results in the preliminary stages and the group stages of the Confed Cup under CK Akonnor.

Kariobangi Sharks 0-0 Asante Kotoko
15/12/18 First leg

Asante Kotoko 2-1 Kariobangi Sharks
22/12/18 second leg

Coton Sport 2-3 Asante Kotoko
13/01/19 second leg

Asante Kotoko 2-1 Coton Sport
20/01/2019 second leg

GROUP STAGES

Al-Hilal 1-0 Asante Kotoko
03/02/19 first leg

Asante Kotoko 1-1 Al-Hilal
10/03/19 second leg

Nkana 3-1 Asante Kotoko
24/02/19 first leg

Asante Kotoko 3-0 Nkana
03/03/19 second leg

Asante Kotoko 2-1 ZESCO United
13/02/19 first leg

ZESCO United 2-1 Asante Kotoko
17/03/19 second leg

CAF Champions League - Preliminary stage

After beating both Hearts of Oak and Karela United to win the NC Tier 1 Cup, the two times African Champions were drawn against Kano Pillars of Nigeria and Tunisian giants Étoile Sportive du Sahel and after suffering a scare from Kano Pillars away, they managed to make amends at home.

Meeting Etoile was the end of the road for Kotoko in the Champions League as they suffered a 3-0 loss in an empty Stadium in Tunisia. They then dropped into the second-tier league known as the Confederation Cup but there too Kotoko failed to make it count.

Kano Pillars 3-2 Asante Kotoko
10/08/19 first leg

Asante Kotoko 2-0 Kano Pillars
25/08/19 second leg

Asante Kotoko 2-0 Etoile du Sahel
15/09/19 first leg

Etoile du Sahel 3-0 Asante Kotoko
29/09/19 second leg

It’s been over a decade since a team from Ghana won an African inter-club competition and the last time Hearts of Oak did Ghana the honors they were imperious both at home and away from home.