Hearts set to win African Champions League for first time

Hearts of Oak are poised to bridge a 17-year gap Sunday by bringing the African Champions League trophy back to Ghana.

The Accra-based club host Esperance of Tunisia in the second leg of the final at the National Stadium with a 2-1 lead and the backing of a sell-out 35,000 crowd assured.

Not even the most partisan Hearts supporters could have imagined their team returning triumphant from Tunis after defender Mireku Amankwaa was sent off in the second half with Esperance leading.

But Ishmael Addo levelled and leading Champions League scorer Emmanuel Kuffour snatched a late winner to leave Hearts needing just a draw to hoist the trophy.

Ghana last won the leading African club competition in 1983 when Asante Kotoko edged Al-Ahly of Egypt 1-0 on aggregate and Kotoko and Obuasi Goldfields have been runners-up since.

Hearts reached the 1977 and 1979 finals, losing to Hafia of Guinea and Union Douala of Cameroon respectively, and were pipped on goal difference by Dynamos of Zimbabwe two years ago for a place in the final.

Strikers Addo and Kuffour, midfielder Charles Taylor, defender Jacob Nettey and goalkeeper Sammy Adjei are pivotal figures in a team coached by Jones Attuquayefio.

Adjei attributed the shock first-leg victory to superior fitness and a grim determination to succeed and qualify for the lucrative world championships in Spain during July and August.

Tradition is against Esperance as no team has won the symbol of African club supremacy after losing at home, but chairman Slim Chiboub is unwilling to concede defeat.

"The impossible does not exist in football and anything can happen in Accra this weekend. What Hearts of Oak did to us, we can do to them," the official said.

Esperance coach Youssef Zouaoui will be able to choose from a stronger squad with defender Walid Azaiez back from suspension and exciting young striker Bilal Lahmar off the injury list.

Veteran defender Tarek Thabet shares the optimism of Chiboub, telling reporters: "We can change the tide of events and atone for the sadness of losing the previous final."

Esperance lost on penalties to Raja Casablanca of Morocco in 1999 and another failure would leave them sharing with TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo the dubious distinction of losing consecutive finals.