CHAN hurting Ghanaian clubs?

By:  Chris Nunoo / Graphic Sports/

RazakGolden Boy Abdul Razak says the timing of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) which dovetailed into the CAF Inter-club competitions has not helped the continental campaigns of the Ghanaian clubs this year.He contended that this year’s case was  particularly worse when the CAF club competitions came on the heels of the CHAN.

In a telephone interview with the Graphic Sports last Monday, the soccer legend insisted that the situation was compounded by the continued rescheduling of Premier League fixtures.The former coach of Kumasi AsanteKotoko  said the inconsistencies in the league were not good enough and could be the cause of the unimpressive outings of the clubs in this year’s competitions as the breaks did not serve as an alternative for preparation for the players and the teams.”Some players who featured in the CHAN were compelled to join their teams to play in the CAF competitions after the competition, while the Premier League matches had to be postponed. This means those players did not have enough time to train with their teams, meaning they did not kick a ball before meeting their opponents”, he contended.All these, according to the former Stade Malien coach, did not put the teams in the best of shape to compete at the highest level, saying“I was not suprised that Dwarfs, Berekum Chelsea and Kotoko foundit difficult scoring goals in their matches, apart from Medeama whoscored four goals to qualify for the next stage of the CAF Confedration Cup”.

Coach Razak said  he was surprised that Atlabara from South Sudan could give a Ghanaian club like Berekum Chelsea such tough time.Commenting on his coaching career, Coach Razak said, his focus was to secure the requisite CAF license  to position himself well for the job.According to him, he is ready to accept any challenge, be it from a local or foreign club.