Kotoko in search of first away goal against WAFA

Sensational WAFA were one of the sides who had the better part of Kumasi Asante Kotoko last season when they held them to a goalless draw in Kumasi and piped them by a goal to nil in the return tie at Sogakope.

The Porcupine Warriors have failed to walk away with all the three maximum points in their three previous outings at the home grounds of WAFA since their days as Feyenoord and have also failed to score in all 3 occasions.

Team news and match facts

WAFA

The strength of the team lies in the supplies from their academy, so they mostly start the season with virtually unknown players who end up making names for themselves through their splendid display like what happened last season.

The player to watch  at WAFA is Latif Anabila who made the headlines in his maiden premier league season, as he tormented a lot of defenders.

However, the absence of Samuel Tetteh, who also dazzled a lot of players last season would be felt. His good form last season in his maiden topflight league earned him call-ups into the Black Satellites and later the Black Stars. Another big absentee in the WAFA team is goalkeeper Felix Annan, who has returned to his mother club Asante Kotoko, after his loan spell.

They have a fine technical brain on their bench, Killer and he, will come neck to neck against another tactician, coach David Duncan of Asante Kotoko.

WAFA have won 1 and lost two of their 3 match day 1 games. They won the match day 1 game at home in 2005, but lost the two away games on day 1 in 2006-07 season and 2014-15 season.

Kotoko

The Porcupine Warriors got busy in the transfer market right after the 2015-16 league came to a close, bringing on board a lot of quality players to replace players they declared as surplus to requirement. They signed Richard Osei Agyemeng from Berekum Chelsea, Edwin Tuffour Frimpong from Liberty Professionals, Theophilus Nyame from Hasaacas, Stephen Nyarko from Wa All Stars, Bennett Ofori from Berekum Chelsea, Kwame Boateng from Olympics, while Stephen Kyere and Ernest Sowah joined them as free agents.

The signings they did materialized during the GHALCA 6 when they managed to clinch the trophy at a time they divided their team into two as one side travelled to Libya to play Al Ittihad, with the other side staying at home to beat Aduana Stars to the G6 title.

Their performance at Libya was also satisfactory: lost 2-1 in the first game against Ittihad and secured a goalless draw in the 2 game.

They had earlier edged the league champions Ashgold to win the SWAG Cup

Kotoko have been tipped to win the 2015-16 Ghana Premier based on their splendid form in the pre-season.

Kotoko have won 7, drawn 8 and lost 6 of the 21 times they have played on match day 1, since the inception of the Ghana Premier League in the 1993-94 season.

They have poor away records on match day 1, having won only once, lost 2 and drawn 7. Their only win was in 2003 against RTU. Last season they started their campaign at Dormaa and lost 0-1 to Aduana Stars.

Head to head

The two sides have met 6 times. Kotoko have won 2, lost 2 and drawn 2 against WAFA in the league.

The bad omen for the 2013-14 champions of Ghana is that they have never beaten WAFA in an away game, since their days as Feyenoord. In 2005 drew goalless, lost 0-1 in the 2006-07 season and lost another 0-1in 2014-15 season when their name was changed to WAFA, so they are yet to score a goal at WAFA home grounds.

Last season Kotoko drew goalless against WAFA in Kumasi and lost the return fixture 0-1 at Sogakope.