ETHIOPIA
HOSTING FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
World-class football stars are
currently playing in the XIIth African Youth Football Championships, hosted this
year by Ethiopia. The under-20s championships kicked off yesterday (Sunday) with
a match between Ethiopia
and Cameroon and another between Egypt and South Africa from Group 1.
Cameroon only just beat
Ethiopia with a late goal in yesterday’s match - with a shot
into the corner of the net from a free-kick by Luc Michel Mbeng in the 87th
minute. Ethiopia were in control for
the best part of the game, especially in the second half.
The Cameroon team features
players from among the gold medallists at the Olympic Games in Sydney. Its team
fields professionals with big league experience in Europe and elsewhere. The
Ethiopian youth national team is selected from local leagues, which have little
or no international experience, but they have manifest confidence, as local
sports newspapers report. The players are determined to reinvigorate
Ethiopia’s performance at international level. What Haile GebrSelassie did for
running they will do for football.
Ethiopia has been making
preparations for some months with trail matches in Kenya.
Eight teams - Ethiopia, Ghana,
Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, and Angola -- are taking part in
the Championships that run from 18th March to 1st April.
Today’s matches are Angola vs
Ghana and Nigeria vs Mali. Tomorrow’s matches will be Cameroon vs
South Africa and Ethiopia vs Egypt.