Ethiopia and Eritrea’s concluded with neither gaining victory but rather a pulsating start to the CECAFA U23 Tournament in a 3-all encounter.
It was Eritrea’s Ali Suleiman Ibrahim who saved the day after netting three back-to-back come-backs to grab one point for his U23 side. This performance also earned the young lad the first man of the match accolade of this CECAFA U23 Tournament.
“We missed several scoring chances, but we shall try to correct our mistakes ahead of our next game against Burundi,” said Ethiopia’s head coach Wubetu Abate.
Ethiopia opened the scores in this Pool B game in front of 15000 spectators at the Bahir Dar Stadium thanks to William Solomo Tesfae putting one past Eritrea’s shot-stopper Kibrom Solomon Haile.
Ali Suleiman Ibrahim made no mistake in the 38th minute to level it after missing three chances but Ethiopia made it 2-1 only 3 minutes later through a penalty converted by skipper Abubeker Nasir Ahmed. This was not enough for Ali Suleiman Ibrahim who recorded his second goal after chipping advancing goalkeeper Jimma.
The match ended 3-3 after Abubeker Nasir Ahmed restored the lead for Ethiopia in the 56th minute and thereafter a penalty for Eritrea converted Ali Suleiman Ibrahim to cancel the host’s lead in the 72nd minute.
“We shall continue working hard to make sure we perform better in our next game,” said coach Mekonen Zewde Abraha.
Eritrea will play Burundi on July 20 before the latter faces host Ethiopia.
Cecafa U23 Pools
Pool A: Uganda, Tanzania, DR Congo
Pool B: Ethiopia, Burundi, Eritrea
Pool C: Djibouti, South Sudan, Kenya
Rwanda pulled out of the tournament citing issues pertaining to COVID-19
