ADDS ABABA –The Ethiopian national football team beat Djibouti 4-3 in the second leg of the African Championship, commonly called CHAN Cup, preliminary on Sunday at a closed stadium.
In the first away leg the national side had a 1-0 win over Djibouti. With 5-3 aggregate result the national side advanced into the next round to take on the Rwandan side.
Djibouti along Somalia, South Sudan and Eritrea are the minnows in the rankings of African football. Beating them with a 1-0 and 4-3 close margin result is not that big for the national side.
In fact the second leg 4-3 result was disturbing. Few expected that Djibouti would find the net three times on home ground. This is the best record for Djibouti in their football history. This indicates the weaknesses of the Ethiopian side.
Prior to the game the match official decided the game to be played in a closed stadium after considering the stadium didn’t have fence that separates the crowed from the pitch. The stadium has been under refurbishment for the last months.
CAF or FIFA strictly orders all national federations to have fence that separates the crowed from the pitch. The Dire Dawa stadium doesn’t fulfill this guidance. The simple punishment for not fulfilling this order is to carry out the international match in an empty stadium to avoid a possible danger if crowed disturbance occurred in the course of the game.
The EFF must change the venue for their qualifier against Rwanda in time. If the national side succeed in beating Rwanda, they will automatically gain a place at the CHAN Cup final that will be staged in Cameroon.
The coach Abraham Mebratu became in charge to guide the national side into the African Nations Cup final but that was not to be so. The country’s football governing body, EFF, now expects his side to go to the 2020 Cameroon CHAN final.
CHAN is organized for African players who are not professionals. It was originally thought that home based African players to get exposure for football agents in the making.
The CAF African Nations Championship sometimes referred to as African Championship of Nations, CHAN, is a football tournament which was first announced on 11 September 2007.
It is intended to be played between the best national teams of Africa, exclusively featuring players who are active in the home championships and qualified to play in the ongoing season. Expatriate players, regardless of where they play, even in Africa, are not qualified to take part in CHAN Cup.
The first tournament was held in 2009. It was hosted by Ivory Coast and won by DR Congo.
The creation of CHAN Cup was a response to the desire to revive or strengthen national competitions regularly weakened by a mass exodus of top players who leave their home countries to play for foreign teams which will pay more and get them more media coverage.
That helped most Ethiopian players to get places in the international arena. The pint sized midfielder Shimeles Bekele, the strikers Saladin Seid and Getahun Kebede were sold for better African sides. Saladin, the best among the Ethiopian players had a place in Egypt.
The host nation Morocco took the fifth CHAN Cup title beating Nigeria 4-0 in the final.
The then EFF President Jonedin Basha received the flag in that closing ceremony. But Ethiopia withdrew at the end.
After the withdrawal of Ethiopia, CAF awarded the 2020 African Nations Championship, CHAN Cup, to Cameroon. Ethiopia withdrew in April 2019.
The Ethiopian Herald August 6/2019
BY SOLOMON BEKELE
