Coach Samuel Boadu has led his players into their first training session since arriving in Casablanca. It's a positive atmosphere especially considering the reaction of the players after that long journey.
The full squad showed up at the training grounds and was involved in all drills prepared by the technical team. Those who had minor knocks in the first game all took part in the training activities. The squad looks poised to go into the game with a focused mindset.
The technical team has all their plans in place which they took the players through.
The training session was more of match situations, drills, ‘ball possession, creating chances, practicing goal scoring and many other drills which will help the team on the day. Coach Boadu wants players to play naturally, but with the opportunity to show their energy levels and performance; he wants to see the intensity of the players and he wants them to know that during the game it will be about taking chances.
After a chat with the head coach, he said " with regards to the drills we just rehearsed I am ok because my interest is to see how my players will respond when setting up 11v11 for a match situation. After all, a training session like this presents the opportunity to put players in their positions so I can see what they’re about. It’s worth remembering too, this is a match that will catapult us into the group stage and we have to factor that in".
The team could not hold their training session on Friday due to fatigue.
There are a lot of things that go into preparing for a game like this especially when it is a crucial game against opponents like this. Lots can be done away from the training pitch. And yes, hearts did all arrangement as a way of remaining focused on and off the pitch of play. The Ghana Embassy in Morocco met the club at the airport to take them to their hotel when the team touched down. They visited the team again at the training grounds as a form of motivation.
The team is in the best of morale going into the second leg of the match on Sunday night.
