Abraham lead Waliya in to World Cup group qualification

A decisive away draw in the twenty thousand sitter stadium in Maseru, Abraham Mebratu’s Waliya booked a place in 2020 World Cup African nations qualification group stage. “I am very proud of my squad members for their composure under such suffocating pressure,” national boss Abraham Mebratu stated to reporters.
Considering the first leg goal less home draw at Baherdar Stadium, few expected the Waliyas would progress to the group stage. But a heroic performance that goes along with tactical discipline, Ethiopia is now among the forty nations anxiously waiting for the group draw.
It took 53 minutes to break the dead lock for the Ethiopian side that fully dominated the ball possession in the first half but short of goal trials. Though the home side returned from the dressing room in aggressive direct play it was Waliya’s that broke the dead lock through Albanian based Binyam Belay who out foxed the left full back to square the ball to the box where the defender deflected it to his own goal. But the lead stayed only five minutes before a brilliant equalizer by Setrumang from twenty yards set piece.
A hard fought defensive play from Waliya’s reciprocated by the home side’s all out attack, two brilliant saves from back to top form Jemal Tasew and a double header bounced from the cross bar, the score line ended in a 1-1 draw thus Ethiopia progressed to the group stage with away goal advantage.
Abraham Mebratu now has enough time to look for a play maker to be handy in place of Shimeles Bekele, a defensive mid fielder in an option to Gatoch Panom and an attacking combination that could work among the strike force.
The 14 winning teams from the Preliminary Round will join the 26 exempted teams for the Group Stage, which will have 10 groups of 4 teams each. The draw for the groups will be based on the seeding of the 40 teams into 4 Pots according to the official ranking of FIFA. Each group will contain a team from each of the pot.