With three goals four yellow cards and the winning goal in the dying minute, national boss Abraham Mebratu’s squad struggled to get past its lowly adversary visiting Djibouti. After an aggregate 5-3 score line Ethiopia got through the preliminary round qualification facing Rwanda early September in a home encounter.
Djibouti was almost to grab an international victory had it not been for that frustrating winning goal miss ten minutes before the final whistle. Abraham has neither an answer nor any footballing explanation for the near chaotic performance of his side. Thanks to the negligent Ethiopian Football Federation, he could not play in front of home supporters. Still Abraham has no one but himself to blame for not having a good enough squad even in a match against Djibouti.
“We performed below expectations because of our lack of concentration. We are going to work hard to take home advantage and get better prepared for the 2020 CHAN cup final qualification” Ever charming Abrahm suggested. The problem is that he never has fresh ideas and always whispering beautiful words rather than suggesting what to be done in footballing languages. ” He is just like his predecessors always talking about morale, lack of concentration, huge ambition, and inspiration,” Mesfin Shibeshi remarked. “It is hard to blame him for he has no firsthand knowledge of football, Mesfin added.
“He told us everything but nothing about the real challenges his team faces. He is a politician promising a bridge where there is no river in his most disarming way,” a player said.
Abraham promises bridge over dry land
Wolayta Dicha appoints Gebrekristos Birara
Former Shashemene and Debub Police Coach Gebrekristos Birara appointed to relegation survival Wolayta Dicha. “I am not sure how he won the appointment since his document is much less impressive than the rest of us,” one of the applicants underlined.
Though GebreKristos has only six months of experience at the Premier League and Debub Police were sent to relegation, he somehow managed to bounce back to secure the top job at Dicha ahead of the other three applicants: former Baherdar boss Paulos Getachew, former Sidama Abayneh Alemayehu and former Diredawa coach Zelalem Shiferaw.
Debub Police managed incredible efforts to survive under Gebrekristos but the team finished 15th in the table thus relegated back to Super league after a single season at the top tier.
Winning the confidence of senior players like Degu Debebe, Tesfaye Alebachew is expected to be the most challenging aspect to Gebrekristos who never played football at the higher stages. Though the head hunting for new players to join the squad is another setback, it may not be that huge a challenge for the humble hearted coach who succeeded the newly appointed Coach at Adama, Ashenafi Bekele.
Hardly a name at Shashemene Town, Gebrekristos joined Debub Police in the wake of the much talked about Fair Play fame in which he received an award from the Federation. Only four wins, six draws and five defeats he collected 18 of the total 39 points to finish 15th at the end of the season.
Ethiopia in Cecafa Group “B” competition
The Ethiopian National Junior side opens their campaign against in the group opening match while hosts Eritrea clash with Burundi. The junior Harambee Stars will open their campaign against Somalia on the first day of the age-group competition.
Ethiopia has been pooled in group “B” of the upcoming Cecafa u-15 Challenge Cup set to be held in Eritrea from August 16 to September 1. Uganada, South-Sudan and Rwanda are the other teams in the group.
Ethiopia announced that unheard of Solomon Meka would be head coach while his name sake Solomon Solomon Geleta had become his assistant. Though Ethiopian Youth and Sport Academy’s contribution in development of youth is considered immaterial, the federation simply named him to lead Ethiopia to the tournament. His assistant Solomon led Trunesh Dibaba U-20 side to finish 7th in the ten side U-20 championship.
Kenya has been pooled in Group A which is made up of hosts Eritrea, Somalia and Burundi.
The group heavy weight Kenya takes a head-on tournament opening clash against Somalia while Eritrea entertains visitors Burundi later.
Group C only has three teams – Tanzania, Djibouti and Sudan, and the top two teams in the Group will progress to the quarter-finals. In Groups A and B, the top three teams will books slots in the next stage of the tournament.
Tanzania and Sudan will play their first matches on August 18, where only one match will be played before the second round of Group matches that commence on August 19.
The quarter-finals will be played on August 28 with the semi-finals being held on August 30. The final and the third-place play-off will be staged on September 1.
