Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The date: January 14, 1968. The place: Haile Selassie I Stadium. The match: Ethiopia vs the Ivory Coast. The occasion: 6th African Cup Group A match. The hero of the day: Bekure-Tsion Gebrehiwot, a solid defender from Hamassein, Eritrea.
Host Ethiopia, Uganda, Algeria and the Ivory Coast were drawn in Group A in Addis Ababa. The tournament kicked off on January 12, 1968, with Ethiopia beating Uganda 2-1 and the Ivory Coast defeating Algeria 3-0.
Right winger Girma Asmerom (current Eritrea’s Ambassador to Belgium) and Luciano Vassalo (penalty) scored for Ethiopia, while a young and gifted Laurent Pokou, scored twice for the Ivory Coast.
The two teams met two days later. The Ethiopian team, despite the unwavering support from fans and all its efforts and chances it created, couldn’t penetrate the Ivorian defense. As the game approached
the dying minutes, fans started to leave the stadium dejected by the lack of victory. Suddenly, an unlikely hero emerged to save the day for Ethiopia. With just 4 minutes left for the game, Bekure-Tsion Gebrehiwot, a right back defender who played his club football for Hamassein FC (later changed to Asmara FC) scored the winning goal with a canon like shot from 30m away.
This magnificent goal remains the only goal that he scored for the Ethiopian national team. Bekure-Tsion played 47 times for Ethiopia, and he is still remembered and glorified to this day for that memorable goal.
Thank you Bekure-Tsion for that memorable goal!
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The great Luciano Vassalo during the 1968 Ethiopia vs Ivory Coast encounter
Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast met 3 times at the national team level, with Ethiopia winning once (1-0) and losing twice (1-0 & 6-1).
6th African Cup: Addis Ababa
01-12-1968: Group A Match: Ethiopia 1 Ivory Coast 0 (Bekure Tsion Gebrehiwot)
01-21-1968: 3rd Place: Ethiopia 0 Ivory Coast 0 (Laurent Pokou)
Ethiopia’s Line-up:
Goalkeeper: Getachew Abebe”Dula” (St. George, Addis Ababa)
Defenders: Bekure-Tsion Gebrehiwot (Hamasein, Asmara), Kiflom Araya (Tele, Asmara), Abraha Araya (Embasoira, Asmara) and Awad Mohammed (St. George, Addis Ababa)
Midfielders: Tesfaye Gebre-Medhin “Wedi Kechin” (Tele, Asmara) , Fesseha Wolde-Amanuel (St. George, Addis Ababa) and Luciano Vassalo (Cotton, Dire Dawa)
Forwards: Girma Asmerom (Dagnew, Addis Ababa), Mengistu Workou (St. George, Addis Ababa), and Shoangizaw Agonafer (St. George, Addis Ababa)
7th African Cup: Khartoum
02-10-1970: Ivory Coast 6 Ethiopia 1
Ivory Coast: [Losseni 16, Laurent Pokou 21, 60, 71, 80, 87
Ethiopia: Mengistu Worku 33
Ethiopia’s Line-up:
Goalkeeper: Amde-Michael (Electric, Addis Ababa)
Defenders: Bekure-Tsion Gebrehiwot (Hamasein, Asmara), Afework Tsegaye (Tele, Asmara), Gezehegn Manyazewal (Dagnew, Addis Ababa), Berhe Goitom (Electric, Addis Ababa)
Midfielders: Getachew Abdo (St. George, Addis Ababa), Jemil Hassen (Tele, Asmara) and Fesseha Wolde-Amanuel (UCLA, California)*
Forwards: Tekeste (Embasoira, Asmara), Mengistu Work (St. George, Addis Ababa) and Shoangizaw Agonafer (UCLA, California)*.
*Following the 1968 Olympic Olympics in Mexico, Fesseha and Shoangizaw were awarded athletics scholarships at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). So, when the 7th African Cup was held in Sudan, they were called back by the Ethiopian federation.
Thank you sir for re-visiting history. Those of us who were there even though I was like 7yrs old I remember Bekure’s amazing goal from far awaY, I was in the field keeping the ball that pass the goal keeper. You brought the child hood memory great news.
thank you zoswa!
I appreciate you
well done for sharing us this information.
good beginning walias!!!!!!!!!!1
thank you zoswaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I appreciate you
well done for sharing us this enformation
there will be one game left for the 3rd place.
hats off for the Great boys and coach.
u got all Ethiopians excited and united.
u still have won our hearts.
No matter the outcome today, I am still VERY proud of our boys!
The future finally looks a little brighter, this tournament has given us HOPE.
Thank you COACH and the Players. I hope they recieve a warm welcome in Addis Ababa.
The future of building a strong national team starts now! God bless them!
good bye boys.thank u ethiopian players for this good performance. the have reached to semi final unexpectedly. they surprise everyone including themselves.
Excellent fighting spirit though.
Ethiopia 0-1 cote d’ivore
what ever the result of this game it was a very good run for the Waliaya antelops.
they will have a good experience out of it.
the game just finished.
well done Ethiopian boys
finished ……….how minutes the referee gave ?
3 minutes added
zoswa any good news..nothing to lose they have to go forward.
two minutes + additional time remaining
the ball went begging for coted’ivore they could easily have scored and put the game out of reach for Ethiopia.
8 minutes remaining
and it is not yet happening for our boys.
lets hope something happens on the dying minutes.
what news ….i think we are losing. anyhow whatever the result we gain good players.
cote d’ivore just hit the cross bar,…it could have sealed the game.
i think 10 minutes remaining………..hope we can comeback!
ETHIOPIA JUST MISSED A GOLDEN APPORTUNITY
SOOORY
BUT COTE D’IVORE JUST SCORED
1 COTED’IVORE ETHIOPIA 0
70TH MINUTE ball position ETH 68%
CDVRE 32%
zoswa, i appreciate you for doing this
there is a skirmish on the field and oumed okuri is down.
yellow card given to no. 14 of cte d’ivore
Thank u Kebe.
the 2nd half just started
It is better to follow the game statistics from Zoswa than the FM 97.1 commentators. Bravo Zoswa.. please keep it up. My thumbs up!!
THE match is shown on SUPER SPORT 4
You know what i am in the office and listening FM97.1… and it is nerve racking …every minute they say oooohhh… the Ivorian team do this and do that. It is football and if they really want to be a good commentator , they better try to control their anxiety and emotion. Because they are making it very hard and tense for their listeners.
ball position Ethiopia 59%
coted’i vore 41%
but Cote d’ivore had many chances to score but thank God THEY FAILED TO DO SO.
but Cote d’ivore seem to have better hand.
our boys sould work a little bit hard.
and try long range shots instead of the dribbling and short passes
and also they mustn’t loose position of the ball to the opponent.
i hope they will improve in the 2nd half.
best wishes!!!!!
half time
still 0-0
thanks are you wach it online?
30th minute
ETHIOPIA 0-0 COTE D’IVORE
What is this ? Is this a tribute to the Eritreans? What is the relevance of these to today’s Ethiopia and Ethiopian football.Some times i wonder what is the driving force behind this nostalgic,good for nothing, and ridiculous articles.
Please this is not a political forum. We don’t want some body to pursue a hidden agenda in the name of Sport. Sport shouldn’t be used for such hideous agendas. If you want to promote your political feelings.. you better use the private medias. You are well come there!!
Selam Ababu,
Sebeta’s real name is: Engedawok Tariku.
I understand Sebeta lives in DC? Does anyone know Sebeta’s real nam? He is underrated.
EthioSports – 6th African Cup: Ethiopia 1 Ivory Coast 0 – The day ……
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
Hi,
Shoangizaw Agonafer lives in San Diego, California. Fesseha Wolde-Amanuel is the Team Manager of Saint George FC in Addis Ababa. As you may recall, Fesseha played for many years for Saint George and he signed a contract to manage the team this past year.
Does anyone know where are Shewangizaw and fiseha today?