CAF Confederation Cup: Kwame Opoku cautions Hearts of Oak about Saoura

Ghana international and former Asante Kotoko striker Kwame Opoku has urged Hearts of Oak not to leave any stone unturned as they prepare to face Algerian side Saoura in the Caf Confederation Cup playoffs.

In Tuesday's draw, the Phobians and the Eagles were pitted against each other, with the winners over two legs progressing to the group stage of the competition.

Poku knows the Algerian side well as he currently plays club football for USM Alger in the North African country.

“Let me wish Hearts of Oak well in their upcoming game against Saoura,” the attacker tol Ashh FM on the back of Tuesday’s draw.

“The team is financially stable, no one should underrate them. They invest well in the playing squad. In my first game played for USMA, we played against them and I can say they are a really good side.

“Just last two weeks, they came to beat us on our own turf, and so you can imagine how good they are.

“Most of the time, they’re based in Algiers and they train in Algiers, they do everything there. They only go to Saoura to play their home games. In terms of African matches, they play their home games at our stadium.”

Hearts will host the first leg tie in Accra on the weekend of November 28, a week before travelling to Algeria for the reverse fixture.

The Phobians are set to compete in the Confederation Cup after dropping from the Champions League, having been knocked out by Moroccan fold Wydad Casablanca on Sunday.

With a slim 1-0 win in the second round first-leg fixture in Accra, the Phobians were unable to hold on for a place in the group stage as they suffered a 6-1 shellacking in the return fixture, making the aggregate score 6-2.

The Ghanaian side, who won the 2020-21 domestic league to qualify for this season’s African campaign, are back in the Confederation Cup for the first time since 2015.

Remarkably, they are the first club to win the continental competition after beating arch-rivals Kotoko in an all-Ghana final to lift the maiden edition in 2004.