Two months in to African Cup of nations qualification third and fourth round fixtures, Ethiopian Football Federation appeared to be forgotten all about preparations. Let alone a squad waiting for a call, the national hot seat is already vacant since July following Abraham Mebratu’s two years contract expiry.
Nearly six months since World Football came to a standstill due to global Covid19 pandemic; it may be hard to talk about the resumption of the sport that calls for a huge crowd coming together under the same roof. Nevertheless Fifa-Caf announced that life must be back to normal accepting the new norm that is strict discipline that goes along with empty stadiums.
Thus the need to wake up Ethiopian Football from hibernation appeared to face a huge setback for the federation has not yet appointed a replacement to Abraham whose two years 6000 USD monthly salary contract expired on the 30th of June, 2020.
Though sources disclosed that national Technical committee chair person Ato Sewnet Bishaw and Football Coaches Association are lobbying to hand Abraham a new contract, the federation President Ato Essayas Jirra and other executive members are said to tend for a new face to take over the mantle. One famous win, two draws and five defeats and failure to book a place in the CHAN and Olympic Cup final, Abraham’s record is far from impressive.
Some critics suggest that the Federation should take responsibility to name anyone from a short list. “This is an emergency situation therefore the federation executive body should take the responsibility of naming one from short listed candidates” one of the critics suggested.
Second in “group K” with two points from two matches Ethiopia faces bottom of the table Niger away on 09/11/2020 and at home a week later. Madagascar tops the table with six points while group favorite Ivory Coast stands third having equal points with Ethiopia.
The introduction of a five year contract dealing isa new chapter in Ethiopian Club Football and other clubs need to follow the breakthrough that would definitely benefit both clubs’ and players as well the national teams” Tsegaye told reporters who attended the two players’ signing ceremony.
This could bring peace and calm among clubs that had been busy building new squads every two seasons. The move would certainly enable Ethiopia Bunna to engage in a long term plan and youth development while the players could stay focused on their carrier rather than switching teams every other year.
Speculation arises Ethiopia may walk out from Nations Cup qualification
Ethiopian Selemon Barega finished second in Ostrava
Ostrava featured men’s 5,000 meters exciting battle between Jacob Kiplimo and Selemon Barega in the last lap. In his first race of 2020, the 19-year-old from Uganda kicked past the Ethiopian on the homestretch to win in a personal best of 12:48.63; Selemon followed in 12:49.08. In the process, Kiplimo and Selemon ran the third and fourth-fastest times in the world this year, respectively.
Selemon’s final stretch performance earned a huge praise from the athletics world for he was under a tough condition to flex his muscles up to his liking at the time of Covid19.
Four days after breaking the world record in the one-hour run, Ethiopian Sifan Hassan returned to the track and ran the sixth-fastest 5,000-meter time this year.
The Ethio/Dutch distance runner kicked past her competition on the backstretch of the last lap to win the women’s 5,000 meters in 14:37.85 on Tuesday at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic. She beat runner-up Sheila Chelangat and third-place finisher Yasemin Can by three seconds.
Tuesday’s win is not the first time Hassan has been successful in a quick turnaround between races. During the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, she won the 10,000-meter title on September 28 and came back to win all three rounds of the 1500 meters between October 2 and 5. In the process, she became the first person to win both the 1500 and 10,000 meters in the history of the world championships or Olympics.
An impressive Hadiya-Hossana side on the build up
The suspended season bottom of the table Hadiya suddenly became the most sought after destination for former national team senior footballers following Ashenafi bekele’s appointment as head coach. Ashenafi’s departure turned out a major blow to Adama for six of their players followed him to the Southern Region contingent.
South African nations’ cup final qualification hero Addis Hensa is the biggest fish to land at Hadiya. The former international midfielder who played for Dedebit, NegedBank, Ethiopia Medin and a three season’s spell with Sudanese side Hilal-Shendi, left Adama ketema to sign a two year contract.
Former national team, and St George striker Dawa Hutesa, formerly with Wolayta and Woldiya defensive midfielder Beruk Kalbore and the giant defender whose name linked with Kidus Giorgis are of the few notable players who left Adama for a two year contract with Hadiya.
Famous for building a strong defense minded squad, Ashenafi’s new signees are well experienced defenders whose work rate considered among the best. A strong back four in coordination with a massive counterattack that is Ashenafi’s trademark, the former Mekelakeya defender Tewdros Bekele, defensive midfielder Amanuel Gobena, the speedy flank man at Adama Bereket Desta, highly rated former Sidama central defender Abebe Tilahun and goalkeeper Dereje Alemu are the new signees to Hadiya.
“Number of renowned players joining the squad life appears so far so good in Hadiya the side that is striving hard to become a strong regional force.” Former player Wondemu Neda suggested.
Caf confirms new dates for postponed Afcon and World Cup qualifiers
The Confederation of African Football has announced the new international calendar for 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying matches.
African countries face a busy schedule of continental football in 2021 with all international windows packed with qualification games starting from November 2020 to November 2021.
Initially, the third and fourth round of matches for the 2021 Afcon were slated for March before the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement.
Countries will play the round three and four games between November 9-17 while the final two matches will be held between March 22-30 in 2021.
On June 30, the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations was supposed to be hosted by Cameroon and was moved to January 2022 and will end in February – a year later than the initial date, after Covid-19 disrupted the global football calendar.
Similarly, the calendar for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers has also been adjusted and the match days one and two will now be held between May 31 and June 15 in 2021.
The match days three and four have been scheduled for August 30 to September 7 while the penultimate and final group games come up between October 4 and October 12.
The two-legged final qualifying round which will produce Africa’s five representatives for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be between November 8 and 16.
The global competition is still unmoved despite the effects of the coronavirus on football activities and will be the first World Cup to be held between November 21 and December 18.
The CAF Emergency Committee has approved the resumption date for qualifiers of the Total Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 and the group stage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
