Newly appointed Waliya boss Abraham at ease and confident

With the 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifying second round group match against Sierra Leone in just six weeks, the newly appointed Ethiopian national team Coach Abraham Mebratu remarked that he is not having a  problem selecting players because he has been following the recent league season closely.
“Being a CAF Coaching Instructor I know a lot about the Ethiopian Premier League and am lucky to have Sewnet Bishaw beside me, for he is someone to depend on,” Abraham stated at a press conference held in Capital Hotel on Tuesday.
Coming back from a decade stay in Yemen Football, Abraham has now been bestowed the responsibility of reviving an Ethiopian national team that had been forgotten over the past eight months. A long vacant hot seat, a newly elected EFF executive body, a recently closed league season and above all footballers wondering around, many suggests Abraham has a high hill to mount and a short time to build a strong national squad. The qualifying matches for the Nations Cup in Sierra Leone are on September 23, 2018 followed by a home match against Kenya on October 5, then a return leg in Nairobi after four days.
Luckily, Abraham was handed no ultimatum unlike his predecessors; Yohannes Sahle, Gebremedin Haile and Ashenafi Bekele. He promised nothing and is therefore free of any pressure from the Federation. “It is not all about the 2019 Cameroon qualification but our main goal is about building a strong national team for the 2020 CHAN Championship stages,” EFF president Essayas Jirra told the conference.
Abraham’s short term plan is to select three players in each position and then select the final 23 players to be ready for the qualification matches.