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25 March 2007
The Ethiopian football national team will clash with its DR Congo counterpart in Kinshasa this Sunday.
The Ethiopian national team, which changed four managers since the start of the Nations Cup qualifier last year, takes 87 position in the recently released FIFA's world rankings, four places below its rival DR Congo.
Mulugeta Miheret, captain of the Ethiopian side, told Xinhua that the national football team thinks that this is the right time to join the biggest continental soccer event after thirteen cups as Ethiopia appeared at the event for the last time in the 13th event.
"Our team is in a very good shape. We have our striker Fikru Tefera back from Orlando Pirets in South Africa, we have a strong team spirit and more than anything the people want the victory so badly," said the captain.
With a strong popular enthusiasm and a lot of promises made to the team if it makes it to the finals in Ghana, the local people expect a lot from the national team this weekend.
"They have many good professional players in Europe like Lua Lua and their attacking line is strong but we are going there to get a good result. This is an important match and we are at least looking for a draw, defeat is unacceptable," Mulugeta said.
Dawit Nigussu, public relations officer at the Ethiopian Football Federation, told Xinhua that the national team, which is mainly comprised of the Olympic team, has a chance to reach Ghana for the finals in 2008.
"The group is an open group compared to the others in the qualifier. DR Congo leads the group with four points, Namibia and Ethiopia follow in three points, and Libya takes the last position with one points. Every team in the group has a chance to qualify," Dawit said.
The other teams of the group Libya and Namibia will play in Tripoli the same day.
Source: Xinhua