Ethiopian National team players recalled to camp

Addis Ababa – The Ethiopian National team coach, Sewnet Bishaw, recalled his players to camp to start early preparations for the ‘do-or-die’ decisive Brazil World Cup final African qualification group final away match against Central Africa on neutral grounds in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

Stripped of the hard-earned three points for fielding an ineligible player thanks to sheer negligence and incompetency of Ethiopian Football Federation executive body, Ethiopia is facing an uphill battle, but it is still possible to beat Central Africa and be back among the last ten qualifiers for the two-leg playoffs. Although his key players, Getaneh Kebede, who is in South Africa, Addis Hentsa in Sudan, Salhadin Said in Belgium and Asrat Megersa in Israel, are hardly able to join the squad at such short notice, a list of 32 players was announced, including some new faces.

Dedebit, which formerly contributed a lot of players to the National team, now has only three players selected, while St. George this time contributed eleven. Samson Assefa, Degu Debebe, Elias Biadgelign, Minyahel Teshome, Behailu Assefa, Adane Girma, Tesfaye Alebachew, Abebaw Butako and Oumed Oukri are the players selected from St. George, while the champions Dedebit had  goalie Sisay Bancha, Berhanu Bogale and Dawit Fekadu selected. Long overdue is a call for Ethiopian Coffee midfielder Fasika Asfaw. Teklu Tesfaye, Tok James and Binyam Assefa are also from Ethiopian Coffee. Defense Force contributed two players; Medhane Tadesse and Shimelis Agegnehu, while the only player called up from Electric is Bereket Yishak. New comers Dashen Brewery have Aynalem Hailu, Mesfin Wondimu and Yonatan Berhanu in the National team.

Jemal Tassew and Aynalem Hailu are not available for the Central African encounter due to yellow card offences.

Preparation started as of Tuesday, with players camping at the InterContinental Addis Hotel.

Source: capitalethiopia.com