Walia keep Afcon qualification hopes alive in Taifa Stars confrontation

In what might be a challenging quest, Ethiopia are hoping to keep their hopes of qualifying for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations alive when they take on Tanzania at Stade de Martyrs on Saturday evening.

Kick-off is at 18:00 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

CURRENT FORM

Ethiopia’s Afcon qualifying campaign has been quite difficult, with Walia only coming up with a point in their first encounter with Tanzania.

The nation lost all three of their matches following the goalless draw against the Taifa Stars against Guinea and DR Congo respectively.

As for Tanzania, the nation is placed third in Group H with four points to their name. Following their draw against Walia, they picked up three points when they defeated Guinea 2-1 at the Charles Konan Banny Stadium.

Unfortunately, they were defeated twice by group leaders DR Congo in both fixtures .

WHAT WAS SAID

At the moment, Ethiopia are working with interim coach Mesay Teferi, following the departure of Gebremedhin Haile.

Haile was vocal about why he thinks Walia have not been doing their best in the qualifiers, putting the blame on not having a clinical striker.

“I am not going to lie about it. We have a problem. We don’t have a potent No 9. We all should agree on this,” he said in an interview.

“We only scored once in six competitive games. This is not something we are proud of. We need to rectify this soon although it can’t happen very fast.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Canaan Markneh, Ethiopia — The attacking midfielder grabbed the solitary goal for Walia in their 4-1 defeat against Guinea and his services will be needed due to the lack of fire power in Ethiopia’s forwards.

Mudathir Yahya, Tanzania — The 28-year-old central midfielder who plays for Tanzanian Premier League club Young Africans scored the late goal which guaranteed three points for the Taifa Stars against Guinea and is a vital member of the squad.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Matches played - 7

Ethiopia wins - 3

Tanzania wins - 1

Draws - 3