Posted by Accra Hearts of Oak will kick start their 2022/23 CAF Confederations Cup campaign with an away game against AS Real Bamako of Mali in the second qualifying round at the Stade 26 Mars stadium in Bamako.
AS Real Bamako secured a place in the round after defeating Burkina Faso side AS Douanes on penalties after a scoreless aggregate draw. For Hearts of Oak, they were amongst 13 teams exempted from participating in the first round.
Hearts of Oak will head into the game against the Malian giants hoping to dump their early season struggles that has seen them part ways with their Head Coach Samuel Boadu. The club are winless from 3 games this season, drawing 2 and losing 1.
Head to head
This will be the third netting between the two sides. Hearts of Oak have won the first two meetings by a 1-0 and 2-1 scoreline.
Team News
Hearts of Oak will head into the game without a few of their players. The Phobians arrived in Mali on Thursday with a 22-man squad. The likes of Daniel Afriyie, Junior Kaaba, Yassan Ouatching, Konadu Yiadom, Mohammed Alhassan, Gladson Awako, Gideon Asante, Prince Darmang, Zakari Yakubu and so on made the trip.
The surprise omissions from the squad is Eric Esso who’s out due to issues with his registration. Isaac Mensah, Abdul-Aziz Nurudeen and Ibrabim Salifu didn’t make the trip due to injuries.
Predicted lineups
Kickoff time and where to watch
The game will kickoff at 4:00 pm and will be streamed on AS Real Bamako’s official Facebook page.
Prediction
Hearts of Oak head into the game without a win in their first three league games of the season. The Phobians have drawn two of those games and lost one, a form which led to the sacking of Samuel Boadu.
In spite of that, the Phobians are expected to pick a positive result. We predict the game to end in a 1-1 draw.