Hearts to play T P Mazembe and not Motema Pembe

Accra, March 31, GNA - The Management of Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club has announced that its scheduled international friendly on Sunday, April 4 would now be against T P Mazembe (formerly Englebert) of DR Congo instead of Motema Pembe as earlier advertised.

A statement signed by Mr Ashford Tettey-Oku, Administrative Manager of the team copied to the GNA Sports said Mazembe who were once champions of Africa are participating in the CAF Confederations Cup and have been paired with F C Bamenda of Cameroon. The statement said the Congolese in their attempt to get acquainted with the West African game and standard of play in the sub region has therefore decided to pitch camp in Ghana to acclimatise before enplaning to Cameroon for the match.

The statement said the team would be arriving in the country with a 32 contingent made up of 10 Congolese internationals. It said three of the players in the squad, namely Kadiaba Muteba a goalkeeper, Kalulika Dieudo, a striker and Ngoye Mbom Boko, a defensive midfielder represented their country in the just ended African Cup of Nations in Tunisia. The statement said in addiction to the three who are members of the national team, six other players play in the National Junior Under-20 side.

Mazembe is coached by Diago Garzito, a French national. Hearts of Oak will also be using the match to prepare for its up coming CAF Champions League second round encounter against A .S Aviacao of Angola. The first leg would be played at the Accra Sports stadium on April 10 with the return leg fixed for Angola in a fortnight. The match would be Hearts third international friendly in as many weeks when they beat A.S Douanes of Togo 2-1 and lost 1-3 against Africa Sport of Ivory Coast at the Accra Sports Stadium.