Walias to face Botswana in friendly
Ethiopian national team, The Walias, will face The Zebras of Botswana national team in friendly match on September 30.
The match which will be held at Botswana national stadium is part of Yohannes Sahle’s bid to prepare The Walias for the CHAN 2016, Afcon 2017 and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier matches. The team is expected to travel to Botswana on Sunday.
Yahonnes has selected 19 players who play their club football domestically for his team’s next CHAN 2016 qualifier against Burundi which will take place from October 23 to 25 in Addis Ababa. The Walias overcame Kenya in their first CHAN qualifier with a 3-1 aggregate result.
The friendly match against Botswana comes after Yohannes was frustrated at Stade Linite Victoria stadium in Seychelles early this month. In their second group match of Afcon qualifer, The Walias failed to collect all three points playing against a 10-men Seychelles side despite support from a huge travelling fan.
Walias will play the third group match of Afcon qualifier against Algeria between 23 to 26 March at Stade Mustapha Tchaker whereas Sao Tome Principe will be Walias’ first opponent in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier in the beginning of October. Botswana suffered a 2-0 loss to Uganda in their opening Group D encounter in Mandala national stadium, Kampala. They defeated Burkina Faso 2-0 in their second group match in Francis town stadium.
The last time Ethiopian played Botswana was during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. The first leg in Addis Ababa ended with a 1-0 victory for The Walias with Getaneh Kebede scoring the only goal of the match. In the away match Ethiopian suffered a 3-0 loss but finished the group top collecting 13 points followed by South Africa 11 points and Botswana 7 points, respectively.
Botswana national football team have never qualified for the World Cup but they did qualify for the 2012 Afcon competition for the first time in their history.
Source: The Reporter
