Coach Samuel Boadu of Accra Hearts of Oak has stated that his squad will treat its match against Great Olympics as if it were the Ghana Premier League championship game.
The Ga Mashie Derby will take place on Sunday, August 18, 2022, at the Accra Sports Stadium between Hearts of Oak and their local rivals.
Speaking before the match, Samuel Boadu, whose team had just suffered their first defeat in the 2022–23 GPL, was adamant that the Phobians would turn things around against Great Olympics.
“Our focus now is to bounce back to face Great Olympics on Sunday. This is another game that will excite the fans because of the huge rivalry. It is a very important game for the two teams and their followers; we’ll approach it as if it’s a final game,” he said.
He claims that Hearts of Oak will move past their loss to Aduana Stars and prepare for their encounter with Great Olympics.
He said, “there’s no need to dwell on the match we lost. We didn’t play badly at all. We had a very good game and created a number of scoring opportunities which we should have converted.”
“It was not a fair reflection of proceedings because we had the lion’s share of possession and threatened many more times. We paid dearly for a mistake we committed at the back. That’s football for you; you can play but when you fail to convert your chances, you can be punished,” Boadu said.
In the Ghana Premier League (GPL) last year, Great Olympics defeated Hearts of Oak by a score of 3-0.