It has been over 15 hours since the incident occurred. But Golden Kick and Parker Hansen are yet to recover from the manner of their FA Cup final defeat.
They probably will not accept the reality of it any time soon and it is easy to understand.
They came so close.
To concede the winner in stoppage time is the worst possible way to lose a final.
If anything was worse than that, it is that, to borrow their coach Parker Hansens’s words “the referee decided the match.”
Replays showed that Kwame Opoku’s contact had sent the ball straight into the path of Kick’s goalkeeper Kelvin Kofi Saaba.
He threw everything he had at it, sending the ball back whence it came, before gathering comfortably.
He won the ball cleanly, without failing Kwame Opoku. Replays showed that.
If there was any contact, it was from Roland Gripmann, who went down with Kwame Opoku who was already on his way down after Saaba had swept the ball from beneath him.
It was not supposed to be given.
But it is perhaps fitting because Latif Adaari himself was not supposed to be the referee.
On Friday, the Ghana Football Association announced Selorm Yao Bless as the center referee for the match.
When the teams came out for the pre-match inspection, it was conducted by Latif Adaari who subsequently officiated the match.
The explanation from GFA officials present at the University of Ghana Stadium last night, was that Yao Bless was injured just before kick-off.
A similar thing happened in Kotoko’s semi-final match against Berekum Chelsea. Referee James Taylor was replaced by Emmanuel Graham just before the kick-off.
For what it’s worth, the final should not only be about Adaari’s premeditated murder.
There was a lot to celebrate from both sides.
Kotoko’s resilience was admirable.
They struggled in the first half as Bless Ege and Dacosta Owusu seized control of the game.
Yet, it was Kotoko who rode the storm to score the game’s opener through Kwame Opoku.
In the second half, there was more zest to their game.
Samba O’Neil, Kotoko’s captain on the day, produced a spirited performance in midfield to keep Dacosta in check.
And when the moment of truth came, Kwame Owusu showed remarkable composure to convert the spot kick.
The protests that followed the penalty decision and the delay before he was asked to take the kick would have been unnerving for many.
Even for the fans, it was a tense experience.
But he took on the weight of all that pressure and expertly dispatched it.
Golden Kick deserves praise too.
Their build-up was crisp and direct.
The spacing of the players, the synchronized movements on and off the ball, and the sheer brilliance on the ball were impressive.
Two players typified that; Dacosta Owusu and Blesse Ege.
Dacosta Owusu ran the show from deep with incisive passing spiced by ridiculous dribbling ability and press resistance.
He roasted Kotoko and it is not surprising that immediately after the game, the Porcupine Warriors approached the player’s entourage and are actively negotiating with Golden Kick for his transfer.
Bless Ege was magical.
Pace, dribbling ability, good associative play, and spotless decision-making.
Somehow, he trumped all of that with a fantastic free kick that greats like Stephen Oduro and Bernard Dong Bortey would be proud of.
Conventional wisdom suggests that it would have been better suited to a left-footed player.
Yet, Ege defied the norm and whipped in a rocket into the net, far beyond the reach of the goalkeeper.
Coach Parker Hansen too. He is a bright young coach with the potential to excel.
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