Ethiopia
beats South Africa 4-1
Ethiopia beat South Africa
yesterday 4-1 in the African Under-20s Football Championships, hosted this year
by Ethiopia. Meanwhile, in a second ‘replay’ match Egypt beat Cameroon 3-1.
As a result both Ethiopia and Egypt have qualified for the semi-finals
Before an ecstatic crowd
Ethiopia scored two goals in the first half and two in the second thereby
qualifying for a place in the World Championship in Argentina later this year.
Jubilant crowds danced in the
streets and waved the Ethiopian flag, cars hooted their horns in celebration at
the victory.
Things looked good from the
eighth minute when Ethiopia’s Hussein Seman scored the first goal from a
rebound off the goalkeeper. Then Yordanos Abay scored with a header in the 27th
minute. The South Africans were playing well but couldn’t rally their defence
and they missed several chances in the early minutes.
South Africa was caught
handling in the 65th minute and Zewdi Bekele kicked a penalty home
bringing the score to 3-1. After only a few minutes Ashenafi Girma brought the
score to 4-1. South Africa’s only goal came in the 73rd minute from
a direct free kick.
The Ethiopian youth national
team is selected from local leagues, which have little or no international
experience, but they are performing well.
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.