Ethiopia coach on cloud nine after win

Sewnet BishawAddis Ababa, Ethiopia - Ethiopia coach Sewnet Bishaw was an elated man after his charges edged out South Africa 2-1 to book a place in the third round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Addis Ababa on Sunday.

Ecstatic fans carried him shoulder high after the match while he struggled to come to terms with the scale of the team’s achievement.

“This is a miracle. Today is a great day for the Ethiopian people and no words can describe how I feel. Bafana Bafana came into the game strongly in the first half and they scored a good goal but in the second half I changed my system and my urged my two fullbacks to attack more.”

“A draw would not have been enough and we needed a win at home to be sure of progressing. Its true South Africa gave us a goal but maybe God just decided to give us.”

“I cannot express my happiness and gratitude to the players ,fans and the federation as this has been a collective job and when we started it we had belief and we have achieved what most people could not dare dream. It is an important day for Ethiopian football since this is the start of great things to come and we will definitely put more emphasis on youth development in the entire country,” an elated Bishaw told supersport.com.

However Bishaw took time to remind his players that they had not yet qualified for the World Cup, “I want my players to celebrate but also remember that we are yet to qualify for the World Cup; we are in the next stage and so we have to work extra hard to achieve our dreams which are very much possible,” he added.

Source: SuperSport.com