The Blue Waves are expected in the country this weekend ahead of the Caf Champions League first leg against the Porcupine Warriors
Sudanese giants Al Hilal Omdurman are expected to arrive in Ghana with a 38-man contingent for the Caf Champions League first leg encounter against Asante Kotoko at the Accra Sports Stadium.
With the game scheduled for Wednesday, December 23, the North African side wants to arrive on time and fine tune in order to be ready for the make or break fixture since they aim at gate crashing into the group stage at all cost.
Since Kotoko’s return encounter in the preliminary round against FC Nouadhibou from Mauritania was cancelled due to issues relating to Coronavirus disease test results and later handed a walk over by Caf because Nouadhibou could not raise a team, Hilal’s top hierarchy have advised themselves not to fall victim to any tactics or last minute games they believe Kotoko may be attempting.
As a result, they have decided to travel with 27 players so that even in the worse case scenario, where some of their players are tested positive of COVID-19, they will still have enough men to record a good scoreline in Ghana before the return leg in Sudan in January.
According to the club’s vice president, Mr Tahir Younus, they will touch down on Saturday with two separate teams to at least spend three days in Ghana before the kick off.
“The total number of people coming to Ghana for the game against Asante Kotoko is around 38 including players,” Younus is quoted as saying by Ghana Sports Page.
“You know because of the Coronavirus disease, we are afraid it may affect us so we’ve got all the players in the list with us to avoid the problems that faced the Mauritanian team in Accra.
“They had three or four players of their players infected of COVID-19 and then they couldn’t complete the official list, so we are taking all the possible players available with us so that even if we are faced with same problem like FC Nouadhibou then we can manage. We are flying with 27 players to Ghana,” he added.
AshesGyamera understands that Hilal could not get one airline for their contingent but have arranged for them to travel in two separate routes.
One of the teams will board Egypt Air while the other takes Ethiopian Air and they will both arrive at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra with a delegation already available to welcome them.
“We are leaving on Friday, December 18 and will arrive in Accra between 8:30am-12:00 midday through Egypt Air. However, we have some of our colleagues flying with Ethiopian Airlines because as you know the big number of people, we don’t have enough seats in one flight so we are flying most of the people through Ethiopian Airline but they will leave at the same time and they will arrive same time,” Younus said.
Hilal are no pushovers as they defeated FC Vipers both home and away to reach this stage of the competition.