The Internationals: African World Cup Qualifying and EURO 2012

ETHIOPIA

June 14, 2012

A fairly uninspired game where Ethiopia was better, with defender Liban Elmi again making a case for being too good for this level, but two shots off the wood work and a little poor luck kept them off the scoreboard. This marks consecutive scoreless draws for Tadesse Makonnen’s teams: not what he wants.

Under-19 International
Togo v Ethiopia, Stade de Kégué
Togo 0 – Ethiopia 0
MoM: Liban Elmi (7.7) Togolese Best: Komi Zakari (7.3)
Attendance: 1003. Referee: Ntusi Mncwango.

June 15, 2012

An early score by Kossi Badohoun put Togo ahead, but Mohammed Abera—still for some unknown reason relegated to youth internationals—was the best player on the field by far, and the constant pressure on the Togolese defense paid off when Tafari Seid slid a neat pass across the box to Adane Metesenot, the game was tied.

It looked to go down as a tie until, with less than ten minutes remaining, Ali Tesseme found a streaking Abera behind the Togoloese line, and his drive proved unstoppable, beating Kokou Salou and giving the victory to the Ethiopians.

Under-21 International
Togo v Ethiopia, Stade de Kégué
Togo 1 (Kossi Badohoun 18) – Ethiopia 2 (Adane Metesenot 28, Mohammed Abera 82)
MoM: Abera (8.0) Togolese Best: Fábio Yacoubou (7.4)
Attendance: 2361.

June 16, 2012

Could Ethiopia build on the victory over Côte D’Ivoire and shock the home nation in their visit to Togo? To do so would mean containing Emmanuel Adebayor, something few sides have ever been able to do. There are some questions there: Adebayor has not played competitively for an entire season, having been traded three times the preceding fall. Would he come out with a hunger to dominate or would the rust show?

The game could not have started any better for the visitors: Fikru, who plays in Spain for Albacete, took a spectacular pass from Mulalem Regassa and easily beat Baba Tchagouni for an early lead.

The lead was short-lived, as a twenty yard free kick from Floyd Ayité tied the game. There was nothing Adugna Deyas could do: when a player puts the ball in the opposite corner, nestling it against the corner of the crossbar, sometimes you just have to applaud.

Ayité’s second goal was less spectacular, but no less effective: a neatly taken pass from Serge Gakpé put Togo ahead at halftime.

Even with Ayité’s two goals, the story of the day was Adebayor: he was dominant, and after hitting the woodwork twice, he added his fortieth career international goal just after halftime for the final tally.

World Cup Qualifiers (Africa) Second Round Group 8
Togo v Ethiopia, Stade de Kégué
Togo 3 (Floyd Ayité 24 48, Emmanuel Adebayor 53) – Ethiopia 1 (Fikru 14)
MoM: Adebayor () Ethiopian Best: ()
Attendance: 29,360. Referee: Jerome Damon.

CAMEROON

Danyil Oranje’s Cameroon side was the first team to qualify out of group play on the road from Africa to Brazil with a trouncing of Libya led by the efforts of Adolphe Teicou. With two games left, Oranje will have plenty of opportunity to experiment with some young players as he looks two years into the future to the 2014 World Cup.

World Cup Qualifiers (Africa) Second Round Group 2
Libya v Cameroon, June Stadium
Libya 1 (Ahmed Saed Osman 70) – Cameroon 4 (Adolphe Teicou 15 36, Achille Emana 27, Eric Matoukou 69)
MoM: Teicou (9.4)
Attendance: 49,556. Referee: Petrus Mathabela.

June 20, 2012

EURO 2012

With a single major exception, EURO 2012 went according to form: in Groups A, B, and C, Holland, France, Russia, Italy, Germany, and England all moved through to the quarterfinals. Group D, however, provided a shock as Turkey progressed ahead of media darling Spain.

The key moment occurred with three minutes left in the confrontation between the two teams, when Genoa’s Mehmet Yildiz tied the game with a great volley, taken as he was falling away from goal, twelve yards out. The tie, combined with Xavi’s being sent off early in the second half of their eventual loss to Portugal, relegated Spain to a shock exit.

Portugal’s Miguel Veloso and Mathieu Flamini of France have been the best players of the group stages.

The Internationals: Ethiopia v Togo; Cameroon v Libya

May 24 – May 26, 2012

The matches between Ethiopia and Togo were a microcosm of the state of Ethiopian soccer: young, improving, and ultimately not there yet.

Tadesse Makonnen’s U19 side was impressive, defeating the young Togolese by a score of 3-0, with goals from Bahir Dar’s Teodoros Heshu and Harrar Beer’s Tafess Ayenew, as well as Saint George’s Meseret Desta. Desta, along with teammate Liban Elmi, were the stars of the game, and the result was certainly well-earned.

U19 International
Ethiopia U19s v Togo U19s, Addis Ababa Stadium
Ethiopia 3 (Tafess Ayenew 10, Meseret Desta 32, Teodoros Heshu 49) – Togo 0
MoM: Desta (8.5) Togo’s Best: Komi Zakari (6.6)
Attendance: 1167. Referee: Prince Clarence.

The U21 game between the two nations was an even bigger surprise: a goal with under ten minutes to go from Mohammed Abera (whose exclusion from the national side remains a mystery) broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Ethiopian side the victory. Tellingly, both of Ethiopia’s goals were from players homed outside the home nation: Abera is in the reserves at Hoffenheim and Adane Metesenot plays for Plaza Amador in Panama.

So, with victories at the youth levels, what would the main attraction bring?

Most of all, it would bring Emmanuel Adebayor. Adebayor has had a difficult year, signing with Newcastle, but unable to play in competitive matches due to changing clubs three times during the season. He was clearly itching to show he was ready to produce, dominating the Ethiopian defense and contributing a brace of goals. Add to that a controlling performance from Serge Gakpé—rumored to be on his way to Manchester United this summer—and Togo rolled to 4-1 victory.

The consolation, if there were any, was in Lencho Skibba’s late goal, which capped an impressive performance by the attacking midfielder from Saint George. Other than that, though, the game exposed the talent gap facing the East Africans, with Samson Mulugeta, generally accepted as the best Ethiopian defender currently playing, being dominated again and again by Adebayor and his fellow forwards, Arafat Djako and Jonathan Ayité, each of whom tallied a goal.

Elsewhere, Danyil Oranje’s Cameroon side had more trouble than anticipated in their game with Libya, needing a well-placed header from Samuel Eto’o in a game they really should have won by more. The game was indicative of Cameroon’s challenge: despite strong games from Achille Emana and Raoul Ngome, where the quality to replace Eto’o will come from remains a mystery.

World Cup Qualifying, Africa, Second Round Group 2
Cameroon v Libya, Stade Ominsports Ahmadou Ahidjo
Cameroon 1 (Samuel Eto’o 49) – Libya 0
MoM: Achille Emana (8.5) Libya’s Best: Meftah Ghazala (7.0)
Attendance: 45,587. Referee: Adisu Woldemarian.