The Ethiopian women’s national team travels to Algeria Wednesday. With the return leg to take place here in Addis Ababa next Sunday, the aggregate winner is going to book a place in the CAF Africa Women Cup of Nations Cup final in Ghana.
Though the Ethiopian Football Federation is blamed for giving little attention to the squad, they have been busy preparing for the last few weeks determined to go past the qualification stage and be at the Cup final for the fourth time. Appearing in the 2002, 2004 and 2012 Cup finals the best result for Lucy was finishing fourth in 2004.
Lucy’s number one striker Losa Aberra is back from injury so head coach Selam Zeray appear confident of a positive result in the first leg away match. She wants to finish the job during the return leg in front of home fans. “I am happy we are considered underdogs for the pressure will be on the hosts,” Selam told reporters. “We are determined to rewrite Ethiopian Women Football history,” Selam added.
Though Women’s football has not yet flourished in Northern Africa, Algeria qualified for 4 Cup finals and currently sits 72nd in the World Ranking. Ethiopia is in 90th place. For Holy Ramadan fasting season the match takes place on Wednesday evening at July 5 at National Stadium.
The 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations will be held in Ghana, and the top three teams will qualify for the Women’s World Cup. Lucy appeared to have a huge dream of making it to the global stage for the first time.
Lucy faces Algeria Wednesday, return leg Sunday
Saint George visits AbaJifar for tricky face-off Tuesday
With five games to go to the end of the season, title contenders Jimma Abajifar and Saint George have a huge showdown in Jimma on Tuesday. Ethiopia Bunna travels south to face Wolayta Dicha.
The timing is good for Jimma Abajifar as Saint George has been decimated by injuries. There are also issues with their central defenders. Meanwhile Jimma’s Okiki Afolabi is on top of his game.
Back in to title contention Ethiopia Bunna needs a win over home side Wolayta Dicha in order to stay among the heavyweights whereas Dicha needs all three points to get far from the relegation zone.
“It is a tricky game but Dicha has every chance to win the game,” a radio talk show presenter suggested. Six points below the top spot, Ethiopia Bunna needs a win.
The new league leaders Mekele travel to Eastern Ethiopia to visit 12th place Diredawa, 6th in the table Fasil entertains Mekelakya at Gondor Fasiledes Stadium while relegation threatened Ethio-Electric travels to 5th place Adama. Tuesday, Hawassa hosts hard to beat neighbors Sidama Bunna. Woldya, which is bottom of the table with just 20 points from 24 matches entertains 15th with 24 points Welwalo-Adigrat.
Unstoppable Mekele grabs league top spot
New comers Mekele’s Premier League season adventure is gaining momentum as they took over the top spot when they won at home over Hawassa. Arbaminch demolished bottom of the league table Woldya in front of jubilant home supporters.
After a 1-0 home win in front of a sold-out crowd at Mekele Stadium, Mekele took over the Premier League top spot for the first time in the club’s history. A single defeat in the past seven consecutive matches is a remarkable success story for Coach Yohannes Sahle. With eleven wins, nine draws and four defeats so far in the season Mekele leads the table with 42 points.
A strong defense line which has conceded only 10 goals, a busy midfield always on the move to give support to the front line, a deadly strike force with 22 goals in the bag and a hard to beat goalkeeper between the posts Mekele could go all the way.
No one expected relegation favorite Welwalo-Adigrat to mount such a strong home showdown and split a point with title contenders JimmaAbaJIfar. Fans were disappointed by Jimma’s performance. “A team that runs to championship title must defeat minnow sides or experienced big name sides’ will never let it go with the trophy,” suggested a veteran football fan.
An amazing hat trick from defender-turned –striker Temesgen Castro’s, home side Arbaminch destroyed visitors’ Woldya 5-0. This is the biggest margin so far in the season and a huge moral boosting incident for “The Alligators” as they grabbed 13th in the table with 26 points.
Ethiopia Bunna came from behind to settle for a late draw against Dedebit FC. Getaneh was back into action and Dedebit was almost to run away from the defeat hangover but debutant Kalkidan Zelalem saved the day for Ethiopia Bunna with a magnificent final minute equalizer. Ethiopia Bunna is closing the gap with the leaders currently sitting 4th just five points below the leaders. The defending champions saint George also lost a chance to top the table after a 1-1 draw against nine men rival Mekelakeya. The Horse Riders are third with 41 points but for goal differences with second place AbaJIfar.
Saint George: chasing the title without a strike force!
Saint George will need better luck to reach their dream of an unprecedented five straight titles as their team looks more like a hospital ward. The recently signed Ghanaian striker Richard Apiyah travelled back home to look for fast medication following a serious knee injury.
The bad omen appeared strong on the front men for three of the all-out strikers are laid out of the fierce title contention unusually crowded with no less than four sides including new comers Mekele and Jimma AbaJIfar. Both teams are aggressively campaigning for a dream title in their first season at the upper tier while Saint George will battle out of every single encounter including four derby matches.
Back from nursing a long injury Pinto’s number one choice Salhadin Said appeared only in two matches before sustaining an injury that aggravated the previous one so he is out for the season. Meanwhile Amara Maale is out with a serious knee injury.
Apiyah’s injury in the game against Electric where he scored his debut winning goal was not expected to be serious but weeks later it turned out severe. Adane Girma’s red card was almost a death sentence to Pinto therefore Saint George is campaigning for a championship title against sides with strong strike forces amongst them leading top scorer Okiki Afolabi of Jimma Abajifar.
