Make or Break!
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - On September 8 Sudan recorded the biggest African Cup of Nations qualifying win of the day after beating Ethiopia 5-3 in Khartoum.
The hosts took a 3-1 halftime lead at Al Hilal Stadium in Omdurman before the Ethiopian national team gave their Sudanese counterparts a scare with a dramatic second half rally in the Red Sea derby.
However, the home team won with two penalties in the 85th and 90th minutes to make sure Sudan traveled to Addis Ababa armed with a comfortable score line for the return leg on October 13.
In that regard, tomorrow’s showdown at the Addis Ababa Stadium is one of the highly anticipated games to be played by the Ethiopian national team in recent years.
Ethiopian national football team coach Sewnet Bishaw believes that his side can still qualify for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals by beating visiting Sudan in tomorrow’s return leg of the final qualifier.
“I cannot deny that it was a heavy defeat. But it is possible to reverse that result with a simple 2-0 win in front of our fans. If one remembers the scoring pattern in the first leg one can easily observe that we were able to bounce back two times,†Sewnet said in an interview.
On his part, Degu Debebe, captain of the team, said: “In my life time no Ethiopian team played in the African Nations Cup final. We want to be the first generation to take part in the final of the Nations Cup in 31 years. That is great for us and we will fight to the end to turn that dream into reality.
Ticket price for the game ranges from 7 birr to 500 birr and will be on sale starting from noon on match day
Compiled by Tewodros Kebkab for The Reporter.
