Ghosts of Ghana haunt Wydad ahead of Cup Winners Cup final

JOHANNESBURG - Wydad Casablanca of Morocco host Asante Kotoko of Ghana in the first leg of the African Cup Winners Cup final this weekend at a psychological disadvantage.

The Red Devils of Casablanca have faced Ghanaian opposition twice before in Confederation of African Football (CAF) club competitions, and come off second best each time.

A 3-1 aggregate loss to Kotoko in the 1987 Champions Cup (now League) was not unexpected as Wydad were competing in a continental championship for the first time while regular campaigners Kotoko had lifted the trophy twice.

But a 3-2 defeat by Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 2000 CAF Cup ranks among the greatest upsets in the 11-year history of a competition for national league runners-up.

Dwarfs was an apt club title.

Minnows even in Ghana, they were an outfit without stars competing in Africa for the first time since 1968 and given no chance against one of the great North African clubs.

Herbert Mensah, the multi-millionaire businessman and media owner who bankrolls Kotoko, wears a pained expression every time the issue of the Ghanaian jinx on Wydad is raised.

"We should respect history and hopefully the proud record of our clubs against Wydad will continue in the Cup Winners Cup final, but our Moroccan rivals are worthy of maximum respect," he stresses.

Wydad and Kotoko have much in common. They were formed within three years during the 1930s and have lived in the shadows of arch domestic rivals Raja Casablanca and Hearts of Oak for longer than they wish to remember.

They have also rung the coaching changes, finished second in the national league, boast the joint leading Cup Winners Cup scorers, play in red, have won the Champions Cup, and had two soft and two hard ties en route to the final.

If Mensah is a trifle nervous when dealing with the past, Wydad coach Luis Oscar Fullone from Argentina plays it up, saying the Moroccan club should be proud of its history.

He can also be proud of his own background, steering ASEC of Ivory Coast to the Champions League title in 1998 and repeating the feat with Raja just 12 months later.

It has not taken the wily South American long to work his magic with Wydad either as they won the Throne Cup, the Moroccan equivalent of the English FA Cup, last weekend, defeating Maghreb Fes 1-0 in extra time.

Fullone succeeded local Rachid Taoussi in September while Kotoko are now under the control of German Ralf Zumdick after compatriot Ernst Middendorp and Scot Ian Porterfield fell foul of Mensah.

As Kotoko prepare to face 11 opponents on the field and 80,000 Moroccans in the Mohamed V Stadium stands and terraces on Saturday, they will worry about a defence that has leaked 11 goals in Angola, South Africa, Egypt and Congo.

But the Porcupines will draw strength from a strike force led by Michael Osei, Nana Arhin Duah and Shilla Alhassan that has struck an impressive 10 times on the road.

Wydad appear strong at the back with goalkeeper Tarek al-Jamouni a national squad member, but apart from six-goal Brazilian Emerson Nogueira, Wydad have reached the final without consistent marksmen.

The return match is scheduled for the central Ghanaian city of Kumasi on December 8 and apart from receiving the Nelson Mandela Cup, the winners earn the right to play the Champions League holders for the African Super Cup.