Tactical Hearts Or Confident Esperance?

Confident Esperance of Tunisia holds no fear for Hearts of Oak as they face each other in the grand finale of the CAF Champions League at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday, says goalkeeper and Captain Chokri El Ouaer. Chokri El Ouaer who made the remark in Italy after his club's workout added, "Esperance aim to win this match with a fashioned strategy."

It needs no stretch of imagination to learn that the supposed winning strategy will dwell on principles of attack and offensive tactics.

The Blood and Gold are therefore bettering their best in creation and use of space, mobility and fluidity, depth and width of attack, beating a packed defence and the offside trap and charging the goalkeeper.

The technical bench of Esperance believes the Phobians will not change their game.

Hammani Taoufik and Maher Kanzer will operate from the wings with Da Silva Reinaldo Alelua, Hassen Gapsi and Radhi Jaidi operating as offensive midfielders.

Ali Zitouni, Ben Ahmed Faycal, Sahbani Bechir, Sofiane Melliti, Chihi Serajddine and Adalton Pereira Dos Santos are some of the players who will be doing the scoring for Esperance. And tall Jaidi Radhi is the pivotal head on corner kicks and free kicks.

Knowing fully well the ability of his own players and the capability of Esperance as a team to beat, Coach Jones Attuquayefio, a shrewd man with large ideas and great drive has also fashioned out his tactics for the match. S. In a chat with Mail Sports, Coach Attuquayefio said, "We don't have to abandon our system of play."

And neither can Hearts afford to delay passes in defence. I can foresee Hearts of Oak solidifying the defence and midfield and playing a strictly midfield game with depth in defence and attack. There is no problem about conditioning of the boys.

And tactically, technically and psychologically the team is right and ready for action. But who wins this titanic clash? To me it is a game of wits and will, and the winner is the side that effects its strategy well. There is a proverb which says one cannot tell the wolf's skin before you have hunted it down.

Hearts of Oak players and supporters must be guided by this proverb. To know how to contain Esperance attacks, to forbear in the face of all odds and to utilise opportunities when they come are the secrets which put top clubs beyond reach of affliction, losing or disgrace in crucial matches.

At the end of the match, however, I expect Hearts of Oak to be the miller with Esperance as the grain. Meanwhile, two Esperance strikers, Ali Zitouni and Hammani Taoufik have confidently predicted a 3-0 win over Hearts of Oak. South African FIFA referee Robin Victor Williams will handle the match.

He will be assisted on the lines by Salie Achmat and Carlos M.N Henrique. The fourth referee is Justice Yeboah of Ghana. The Match Commissioner will be chosen on the day of the match.

This is the second time Referee Williams is handling a Hearts match.

Referee William first handled Hearts' match with El-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo in a match that ended one-all.