Ethiopian youth conclude Kenya trip

The Ethiopians chose to train in Nairobi

Kenya may not be a strong soccer nation in Africa, but the South African and Ethiopian teams for next month's Africa Under-20 soccer tournament in Addis Ababa have chosen the country as one of their training venues ahead of the Africa tournament.

Whilst South Africa have chosen Eldoret in order to get good high altitude training, the Ethiopians chose to do their training in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

They are just stronger and more experienced than us.

  Ethiopian official Ziad Hussein on Cameroon

Eldoret is the home of most of Kenya's leading athletes who prefer training there because of its high altitude which gives them more advantage when they run at sea level.

So why did the Ethiopians decide to train in Kenya's capital, Nairobi?

One of the three assistant coaches of the Under-20 team Ziad Hussein said they came to Nairobi to further foster the strong relationships between the Ethiopian and the Kenyan governments.

"Kenya is our neighbour, that's why we decided to train here," he said.

"We're okay so far, our players are responding well to training but we're unhappy with the poor playing surface at the City Stadium,'' he added.

Robust Kenyans

Hussein was, however, impressed by the robust approach of Kenyans.

He felt this would stand them in good stead against their more robust opponents from West Africa, in particular Cameroon and Nigeria.

Ethiopia is in group "A" ' with South Africa, Egypt and Cameroon whom they play in the opening match on March 18.

Group B has Ghana, Nigeria, Angola and Mali.

Commenting on their opening match against Cameroon, on ....... , Hussein boasts that they are more skilful than the Cameroonians.

"They are just stronger and more experienced than us. We'll also use the home ground advantage to the maximum."

Excitement

The 18 Ethiopian players who trained in Nairobi include six who made their international debut for the senior team during last year's East and Central Africa Senior Challenge Cup tournament in Kampala.

They were: goalkeeper Sadat Jemal, (Neyala), midfielder Getu Teshone (Bank of Ethiopia), striker Hussein Seman (Coffee), defender Kefyalew Tesfaye (St Georges), midfielder Mechele Abrahane( Gona) and striker Yarad Abeje (Awassa).

Excitement in building up in Ethiopia ahead of the tournament, with the French Embassy in Addis Ababa donating $20,000 for the renovation of the Addis Ababa Stadium, the venue of the soccer extravaganza expected to parade future African stars.

Ethiopia's most notable success in African soccer so far was in 1962 when, as hosts, they became the first nation from East and Central Africa to win the Africa Nations Cup.

In addition to 1962, Ethiopia hosted the African Cup of Nations in 1968 and 1976.