Ethiopia humble Egypt in AFCON qualifiers

The Walia Ibex of Ethiopia returned to winning ways on Thursday night with a 2-0 victory against giants Egypt 2-0 in a Group D match of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023.

Dawa Hottesa Dukele and Shemeles Bekele netted two first half goals to give Ethiopia their first win the the campaign after losing 2-1 to Malawi in the first match.

The six time African champions Egypt came all out at the Bingu National Stadium in Malawi to try and get an early goal, but the Ethiopian defenders contained them well.

After 21 minutes Dukele put Ethiopia ahead when he finished off a clever run and cross by Abubeker Nassir. Egypt playing without skipper and Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah tried to fight back to level matters, but failed.

Team captain Bekele also got his name on the score sheet after 40 minutes as the Egyptian defending line was again caught flat footed.

Wubetu Abate, the Ethiopian coach said his team played well and worked hard to get the win. “We need to keep working hard and remain focused because there are more games to come in the qualifiers,” added Abate.

Ethiopia now go top of Group D with a better goal difference as all the teams in the group have collected three points.

In the other matches played by teams from the CECAFA region South Sudan suffered a 3-1 defeat to a 10-man Mali team in a Group G match played at the St. Marys Stadium, Kitende in Uganda.

South Sudan took a first half lead after Kiki Kouyate netted an own goal after 29 minutes. But the Mali team returned determined to level matters after 58 minutes through Mohamed Camara. Mali was later reduced to 10-men after Ibrahima Kone was later sent-off after 78 minutes for elbowing Rashid Toha.

Sekou Koita and Aliou Dieng added two more goals for Mali in added time as the South Sudan team failed to defend well.

Burundi also lost 1-0 to visiting Cameroon in a Group C match played at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es salaam. Toko Ekambi scored the lone goal after 30 minutes.

Results

Ethiopia 2 Egypt 0

South Sudan 1 Mali 3

Burundi 0 Cameroon 1