Former Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak star Taylor predicts doom for Ghanaian clubs in Africa

Former Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko playmaker Charles Taylor believes Ghanaian clubs are currently not strong enough to achieve any significant success in continental inter-club competitions.


It has been one disappointing performance to another by Ghanaian clubs in the Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup in recent times, the latest underwhelming turnout coming when Hearts faced Algerian side Saoura on Sunday.


Despite holding a 2-0 first leg lead from the home game, the Phobians fell massively in the reverse fixture as they suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat to crash out of the Confederation Cup on a 4-2 aggregate.


"Right now, no Ghanaian club can make any impact in Africa in the next 10 years. There's no quality to compete,” Taylor, a member of the Hearts side which beat Tunisian outfit Esperance to win the 2000 Caf Champions League, said on Angel TV.


“Some of our best players will sit on the bench in North Africa clubs. Ghana lacks quality in all areas, technical, management and players.


“There's no [special success] trick to playing North African clubs. The trick is to have quality. When we arrived in Tunisia to play Esperance in 2000, the fans said they'd beat us 4-0.


“We were laughing on the bus because we trained to win 2-0. We won 2-1 away. We were just too good.”


Sunday’s big loss, be that as it may, was not the biggest defeat of Ghanaian champions Hearts in Africa this season.


In October, the Phobians crashed to a 6-1 away defeat to Moroccan fold Wydad Casablanca in a Champions League second qualifying round second leg fixture, having registered a slim 1-0 home win in the first leg.


The resultant 6-2 aggregate score sent Samuel Boadu’s side out of the elite continental inter-club championship but they were lucky to receive a second chance to make an impact in Africa by being handed a place in the play-off round of the Confederation Cup as per regulations of the two competitions.