An exciting first season in Ghana saw Trebor Mahtal lead Kumasi Asante Kotoko Sporting Club to his first continental trophy in the CAF Confederation Cup. Now, the newly crowned greatest Zambian manager of all time was targeting the Ghanaian Premier League after finishing 15 points back from champions Hearts of Oak in 2032.
The big trophy success saw Asante Kotoko come into Mahtal’s second season with £1.8m in the bank, a transfer budget of £249k and £27k spare in a £33k weekly wage bill. That was boosted by Mahtal being forced to sell star players Amadu Honey and George Boahen, who were both in the final year of their contracts, to Egypt’s Ghazl El-Mahalla for club record fees of £300k and £350k. He also allowed 10 players to leave at the end of their contracts, freeing up an additional £1,200 in weekly wages.
In their place, Mahtal strengthened the squad heavily, including three strikers led by his former Horoya man Papa Baldé for £18k, 18-year-old Daniel Yeboah for £49k from RTD Academy and Amos Davordzie, who becomes easily the best player at the club and scored 15 in 28 league games last season, for £20k from Attram de Visser. He also brought in midfielder Peter Fosu-Mensah for £10k from Real Tamale, right back Isaac Okyere for £25k from Berekum Chelsea and left back Evans Gyamfi for £20k from Nations FC.
With those players recruited, Mahtal took a more offensive approach, building his team around a three-striker approach that drops back into a 5-2-3 out of possession. Baldé and Yeboah will flank main striker Davordzie and drop wide outof possession, with Fosu-Mensah in midfield alongside the retraining Samuel Prempeh. Converting midfielders Adam Sekyereh and Kofi Mensah drop back into a three-man defence alongside solid captain George Manu, with Silas Osman and Okyere providing the width as advanced wing backs.
Laughable CAF Confederation Cup Defence
Baldé scored on his debut as Asante’s Confederation Cup defence began with a 1-0 win over Mbale Heroes in the first qualifying round. But their competition came to a premature end with a truly shocking 2-0 defeat in Uganda. A month later, the players gained some solace from the fans as a highly creditable 0-0 with Mamelodi Sundowns was followed by a penalty shootout victory to lift the club’s first CAF Super Cup.
Second Season in Ghana
The bookies made Asante Kotoko second favourites for the title with odds of 15/8. Accra Lions are 6/5 favourites, along with holders Hearts of Oak (13/1), King Faisal (16/1) and WAFA SC and Medeama SC (25/1).
Mahtal’s second season began with Davordzie dazzling on debut with two goals inspiring a 3-2 win at home to Bechem United. The new approach looked really tasty as Fosu-Mensah, Davordzie and Yeboah scored in a 3-0 win at 2031 champions Medeama before Fosu-Mensah’s double earned the same scoreline at home to Legon Cities. The Porcupine Warriors’ strong start continued with the in-form Osman creating both goals at Great Olympics and the red-hot Fosu Mensah scoring two more in a 4-1 win at home to Samartex, before a narrow 3-2 loss at Hearts of Oak. But they recovered by beating Nations FC 3-0 before Yeboah’s late penalty at Attram sent them top of the league for the first time. And the chaos this formation can bring was highlighted as they edged a 4-3 thriller at Aduana.
A 2-1 defeat at WAFA left Asante 2 points clear of their opponents and Accra Lions after 14 games. And back to back defeats prompted Mahtal to ditch the three striker approach, moving to more of a flexible 5-3-2. That worked very nicely as they crushed Bibiani Gold Stars 5-0 before a Fosu-Mensah brace earned a 2-1 win at Basake Holy Stars. And Asante headed into a winter break 2 points clear of WAFA and 5 clear of Accra Lions, with defending champs Hearts of Oak way down in 9th place.
Ghanaian Title Race
2033 began with the impressive Fosu-Mensah scoring two more in a 5-2 thrashing of Attram de Visser before Baldé repeated the feat in a 5-0 demolition of Medeama, and they finally drew for the first time this season at lowly Bechem. But young midfielder Nana Yaw Appiah scored the only goal at home to Karela to move Asante 6 points clear with 12 games remaining. However, a 1-0 defeat at home to Hearts of Oak was followed bhelped WAFA close the gap to 1 point.
It stayed that way going into the final 5 games, with the top 3 of Asante Kotoko, WAFA and Accra Lions separated by just 6 points. And the top 2 were eyeing up records for most wins (24) and most points (78) in a Ghanaian top tier season.
Game 30 – Accra Lions (3rd, away): Asante’s title run-in began with a tricky trip to the capital city. Fosu-Mensah’s 20-yard curled effort put them in front after 11 minutes, only to concede straight from the kick off, and that was the end of the scoring. But WAFA scored a late goal to win 1-0 at Bechem, which took them top by a point.
Game 31 – FC Samartex (10th, away): Another away day followed and Asante came out flying with Baldé and a Yaw Appiah brace putting them 3-0 up inside half an hour. Prempeh and Fosu-Mensah added to the tally after the break, but they also conceded 3 in the second half to win a 5-3 thriller. WAFA scored twice early on to defeat 4th-place King Faisal 2-0 away, which made it 9 wins in their last 10 matches.
Game 32 – Great Olympics (17th, home): An easier game followed on paper, but Asante fell behind after 5 minutes, equalised through Davordzie after 16 minutes but immediately went behind again. Prempeh got another equaliser before dominating the second half and eventually nicking a 3-2 win through a Baldé header from a great Osman cross. WAFA beat Nations FC 3-1 to make it 7 consecutive wins and stay 1 point clear.
Game 33 – Basake Holy Stars (14th, home): Asante’s final home game of the season was more convincing as Fosu-Mensah put them in front after 10 minutes before a Baldé brace put them 3-0 up. And, despite conceding two late on, a first senior goal for midfielder Collins Karim secured a 4-2 victory. At the same time, a huge game in Accra saw 3rd face 2nd, and WAFA took the lead after half an hour. However, they had a man sent off in the first minute of the second half and conceded 3 goals, finally dropping points with a 3-1 defeat to Accra Lions.
That saw Asante go top of the league by 2 points heading into the final day showdown, in which they just needed a point to secure the title.
Game 34 – King Faisal (4th, away): However, that wouldn’t be easy as Asante made the trip to King Faisal while WAFA hosted 11th-place FC Samartex. WAFA surprisingly went a goal behind after 25 minutes, while Asante and Faisal shared 19 shots without a first-half goal. Baldé missed a sitter of a header just after the break and Davordzie shot wide when clean through on goal. And they were punished as Faisal scored completely against the run of play. Mahtal berated the lads and they immediately responded as Yaw Appiah headed in Baldé’s freekick despite looking suspiciously offside. They carried on missing chances, including Karim blazing over, but WAFA were still behind and a point was all they needed.
Asante Kotoko won the Ghanaian Premier League!
Asante wrapped up their 32nd Ghanian title by 3 points from WAFA, securing a new league record 80 points with a record 25 wins, 5 draws and 4 defeats, scoring a league-high 83 and conceding 35. Baldé was the league’s top scorer with 19 in 32 and Fosu-Mensah was joint-third with 15 in 34 and Davordzie was 6th with 14 in 34, despite having a league-high 126 shots of which just 60 were on target. Osman, Okyere and Fosu-Mensah sat high up in the assists chart with 11, 10 and 10, only bettered by a King Faisal pair getting 13 each. As a result, Okyere won young player of the year and Mahtal was crowned manager of the year.
Mahtal Secures League Title Number 5
A successful time at Asante Kotoko saw Mahtal lead the club to domestic glory on the final day of the season, largely thanks to WAFA’s late wobble. Fosu-Mensah was definitely the star man with 16 goals and 11 assists from midfield, along with Baldé (20 goals and 8 assists), Okyere and Osman with 12 assists apiece from wing back, Davordzie (15 goals and 6 assists) and Yeboah and Yaw Appiah with 9 goals each.
Mahtal had really enjoyed the time in Ghana but, with yet another league title in the bag, it was time to move on and seek a new challenge. But where would he end up on club 6 of his African adventure? Join us on Monday to find out!
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