Asante Kotoko Goalkeepers Danlad Ibrahim and Frederick Asare continue to compete for the number one spot at the club.
Today just like many other days, I was casually surfing on Twitter and came by a post. Initially, I scrolled past it, and upon a second thought, I found myself going back.
It was a tweet from Kotoko shot-stopper, Danlad Ibrahim, the highlight of the tweet echoed his focus on the growth of the club and not competing with his compatriot for the number one spot downplaying suggestions that he is in a contest with the second-choice goalkeeper, Frederick Asare for the top slot.
I thought that was a bold initiative and a great show of mature sportsmanship from the young goalkeeper to come out to quickly disperse circling concerns for the newly signed goalkeeper to be made the number one for the current campaign.
Truth be told, Danlad Ibrahim has come a long way with Kotoko, prior to manning the post for the club in 2021/22 and this season, it was visibly impossible for him to get the nod ahead of the then-goalkeepers, Felix Annan and Kwame Baah, who have all since left the club to seek greener pastures elsewhere, he went on loan stints to Berekum Chelsea and later on King Faisal.
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The young lad came back from his loan spells with a bang, manned the post for the Porcupine Warriors, and helped them to win the league, his performances for his local side enabled him call-ups to the Black Meteors, Black Galaxies, and the Black Stars.
It goes without saying that, inasmuch that the young goalkeeper was chalking all these successes on national font, it may have somewhat affected his chances back home with, Kotoko.
A young Fredrick Asare, who swapped Accra Lions for Kotoko gave an assured performance in his debut game against regional rivals, King Faisal. In that game, the current holders of the league, thumped their regional rivals by 3-0, and Asare kept a clean sheet. A massive boost for a new goalie trying to make a mark at a new club.
In his cameo season with the club, he has profoundly made the most of the opportunities, coach Seydou Zerbou has entrusted to him so far in the current campaign.
It’s least surprising that he has managed to keep, four clean sheets, won three games, drawn six, lost two, and conceded eight in eleven games for Kotoko this season. He can only get better within due time with loads of game action.
In light of Asare’s fine form for Kotoko, they have been widespread suggestions that the young goalkeeper should continue in that role for the club.
In most games, I watched the lad play, he has exhibited a strong penchant for confidence, wilds an admirable margin of composure and communication skills, positional awareness, equal to the task in one-on-one situations and a great attribute he commands over his compatriot is his penalty saving abilities.
Meanwhile, Danlad exhumes speed, agility, anticipation, and positional awareness even though he mostly has this rush adrenaline during games that could be worked on by the goalkeeper’s trainer moving forward.
The two young bulls tend to complement and provide the needed competition for each other in games.
Coach Seydou Zerbou and his technical team have an arduous task in choosing one of the two as the man of sticks but that won’t come on a silver platter considering the varied skills set the pair bring to the table in games.
This is not the first time that a coach will be spoilt for options in a particular area on the field, they are many examples to name from, Felix Annan and Kwame Baah had their fair share, Richard Attah and Richmond Ayi of Hearts of Oak, the BlackStars also had Richard Ofori and Joojo Wollacott gunning for the top spot but the most important thing is to give each and everyone a fair taste of game action by so doing it helps create the necessary budding competition between them.
For the Porcupine family, I know they want the best for the club but it’s important to rally their weights behind the pair than to create any sorts of animosity which will cause squad instability in the present or near future.
