Asante Kotoko head coach, Charles Kwablan Akonnor has soberly reflected on his side's CAF Confederation Cup campaign after bundling out last weekend in Ndola.
In the absence of competitive local action, which has been on hold since a bribery and corruption scandal rocked Ghana’s FA in June, Kotoko turned to the obvious and only available option of friendlies to get their team into gear.
There were no questions about whether the lack of competitive local action will be telling on Asante Kotoko in their 2018-19 Total CAF Confederation Cup campaign.
Defeat in Zambia against Zesco United cut short the club’s participation in the competition amidst a sense that Kotoko put their best foot forward and did the best they could.
The result left the Kumasi-based side third in Group C, one place below the pass mark.Â
“It was an interesting journey looking from where we started, it’s a very good foundation that we need to build onâ€, Akonnor told Metro FM in Kumasi.
“I saw two(2) faces in terms of how we played in Both Home and in the Away games, we missed some key players in a certain point and that worked against us but all in all it’s was goodâ€
“Hopefully we can improve the squad, individually we made mistakes but that’s normal because most of these players were inexperienced, when they are given the chance again they will do things the right way because of the experience gain in this year’s campaign “
“Our players have been given call ups to the National teams and that’s a Plus for usâ€
“The confidence was down at the early stages of the competition but we gathered confidence as we moved forward “
“The games between Kariobangi Sharks and Al Hilal in Kumasi were my difficult gamesâ€
Last season, Kotoko exited the Confederation Cup in the preliminary round. Their last group stage berth prior to this season's campaign was in 2008.
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