Eritrea v Uganda Final – Live Commentary

Eritrea kicked off the match exactly at 3:30 Eritrean time.

Kenya beat Rwanda in the third place play-off just earlier in a rather rainy match but the rain had now stopped for the big game.

Eritrea started positively putting the ball forward but Uganda cleared the ball to turn it around and got a corner in the first minute but Eritrea cleared it. It’s a nervous start. The pitch is still wet.

An Eritrean fan, Ermias Tesfai, watching the game at Eritrean cafe said, ”Enku’e mai hareme.....Tulul Keremti Yegberelna”.....losely translated as ....”good that it rained for a fantastic harvest”, Coinciding the celebrations exhibited by the Red Sea boys each time they scored in the past by simulating ‘Harvesting’ in front of their adoring home fan.

11 minutes into the game, Eritrea showed a fantastic movement to burst through the Hippos defense but a fantastic deflected effort by Idris Ismael skimmed narrowly past the top bar. If it weren’t for the hippo’s brave goalkeeper charrging, that would have been 1-0 for Eritrea. Another chance went begging from the following corner, again, Idris Ismael with a brilliant glancing header. Idris is having a fantastic match so far creating havoc at the Hippos back line.

First yellow card mid way through the first half went to Ugandan player for a deliberate tackle from behind on Meron Habtesulus, who was dashing down the left hand side.

35 minutes into the game, the ball was dangerously left astray inside the six yard box until it was cleared out. Anything could have happened in such a crowded situation.

41 minutes into the game....a fantastic move by Eritrea down the left hand side resulted in a dangerous cross by Yonathan, with the Ugandan goalkeeper stretching to the limit to collect the ball. It shows Yonathan’s natural gift, to deliver such a difficult cross from the edge of the line with the outside of his foot.

Near the end of the first half, Uganda had a chance went begging just before Meron Habtesulus went down injured in the Ugandan half of the pitch. The Sudanese referee blew his half time whistle.

The fans at Adel’s house started to tuck in into their Ful and shahi. Goitom’s & my Selsi-fitfit along with nae-nae Shahi just arrived at half time. Couldn’t have timed that better.

Goitom is sitting right next to me and was telling me about a captivating Eritrean football history of aboy Qelati, which I will do more research and narrate it for another day. Now I need to recharge myself for the second half.

Second half started rather cautiously with Uganda winning two corners on the trot in the first minute of the second half. Another chance for Uganda came from a dangerous cross from the left hand side but Eritrea survived this second half onslaught. Eritrea have to compose themselves and crowd in the centre pitch to deny them the time & space enjoyed by Uganda.

Eritrea’s chance came on the 51 minute when Idris Ismael dashed down the right hand side taking on two Ugandan players only to be fouled in the penalty area. The referee played on. Eritrea was denied a penalty.

Amongst the fans in the stadium, a Londoner- Bereket Weldemichael, was spotted in the stands draped in Eritrean flag blowing his Vuvuzela. Well done Bereket!! We’re doing our bit here, too.

Eritrean first substitution came on the hour mark(60 mins) with Tesfalem coming on for Kibrom Andemariam.

68 minutes into the game, a fantastic play by Idris sent Meron who mishit his cross with Tesfalem waiting in the box for a simple delivery. That final ball in the Ugandan third of the pitch need to be worked on, perhaps with more concentration, RedSea boys could deliver a better final ball in the Ugandan third of the pitch.

Eritrea weren’t the only one wasting chances as Uganda also missed the best chance of the game on the 73^rd minute.

10 minutes to go and it’s glaringly obvious that Uganda is enjoying the freedom to pass the ball in the midfield. The RedSea boys are solid at the back with Samuel Alazar at the back.

6 minutes into the final whistle, against the run of play, Eritrea wasted a golden chance to wrap it up, when a free-kick was swung in from the right wing, dangerously, into the box falling into Abraham Tedros(Agua) feet but seems to be indecisive and spurned the chance.

Referee added two minutes of injury time and Uganda made a dangerous move down the right with the ball, agonisingly, going across the face of the goal with both the Ugandan striker and Samuel Alazar going 50-50 for the ball. It was a scary moment.

Referee blew the final whistle.

An extra 30 minutes is added.

Eritrea have used up all three of its substitutes with Alex and Kulubrhan coming on from the bench in the normal time. We hope it won’t come to haunt Negash Teklit whose young guns have to avoid an injury in the next half hour of extra time.

The extra time started. It’s Eritrea’s 6^th game of the championship and Uganda’s 5^th. Now they are playing the extra time making Eritrea played a record longest time in 14 days. It’s official.

10 minutes played and both teams are having even chance in a rather sluggish first half of an extra time. Both teams are going forward but that final ball seems to let them down.

Second half of the extra-time is about to start. You can’t see any fan sitting....they are all standing & shouting at the top of their voice. Londoner, Bereket is blowing his vuvuzela.

This commentary is Live and interactive.

Eritrea won a corner in the 107^th minute. Could it be this one?

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!! Filmon missed another good chance.

No no no!! A minute after Filmon’s chance(108^th minute),

Tesfalem wasted the best ever chance of the match if not the best chance of the whole tournament. The substitute Tesfalem, all on his own only 2 yards off the goal line headed it just above the cross bar. We all thought that was it. We thought it was over but it wasn’t. That would have sealed it.

We all thought it was a goal but hope we won’t look back and regret this chance.

Still 10 minutes to go. Eritrea got a free kick on the right. Uganda cleared it. Another chance gone begging. Eritrea are pushing forward now and Uganda seems to run out of steam.

Ohhhhhhhhh!!!

Eritrea conceded a dreadful own goal on the 112^th minutes. Ugandan cross from the left flank was deflected by Yohannes Nega to give the defending champion, Uganda, a 1-0 lead.

That’s what they call a ‘sucker punch’ goal. UNBELIEVABLE!!! So unfair for Yohannes nega who came back from suspension for two yellow cards missing the semi-final against Kenya. He generally had a fantastic tournament until now.

It couldn’t have been more painful to go down and lose on an own goal just a minute before Tesfalem missed a sitter that could have sealed it for Eritrea.

Two minutes into the final whistle, 118^th minute again the chance fell to Tesfalem that could have equalized the match to force the game into a penalty shot-out.

The fans look stunned but upbeat.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!

On the 120^th minutes while Uganda were dreaming to lift the cup, Eritrea scored an equalizer. Almost the last kick off the game. The funs erupted in delight. Don’t ask me who scored it. It’s pandemonium here. It was a fantastic glancing header from a lovely cross swung in from the left.

Ugandans thought it was over....but the RedSea boys proved them wrong that it wasn’t over until it is over. It was almost the last kick of the game.

The Sudanese referee blew the final whistle after a gruelling 120 minutes.

Now it is a Penalty shot out. It can be a lottery. It can go either way.

Reminiscent of what happened in the 1987 when Ethiopia played Zimbabwe in the CECAFA cup final, when Gebremedhin Haile scored with a header which forced the game into a penalty shot out. Guess who stepped up to score the first penalty. No prize for the guess...... it was none other than, the legend Negash Teklit followed by Amanuel Eyassu(Adetekelezan). Then three Ethiopians missed the next 3 penalties before to come to the last kick when Mulalem Ejegu got them out of their misery by scoring the winner for Ethiopia to lift the cup for the first time, helped by Negash and Amanuel Eyassu. The following year(1988) another famous victory was achieved, when Nadew-Eze was smashed into pieces in Afabet .

Now our boys are having the greatest chance to emulate their heroes. It is also remembered that 9 out of the 11 players were Eritrean when Ethiopia lifted up the African Cup of nations in 1963 in Addis Ababa. That was two years after Hamid Idris Awate started the arm struggle for the independence of Eritrea that we are all enjoying today.

Now we know from our correspondence that it was Tesfalem who scored the equalizer at the 120^th minute. It’s ironic that Tesfalem missing an easy chance earlier in the game but scoring a rather difficult header at the death(120^th minutes). We would have preferred the first easy one that went begging to connect with the back of the net.

Penalty shot-out

Unbeleivable!! The defending champion, Uganda, has won the CECAFA U-20 championship to retain.

Congradulations Hippos ....Commiserations Red Sea boys.

The Hippos scored all their five penalties while Red Sea boys missed one.

After Yonathan missed the second penalty, Uganda were favourite and scored all their penalties to win the Friendship and Development cup of the CECAFA U-20 championship.

Eritrea had a fantastic tournament. A cup is only symbolic but the sportsmanship is what stays in mind. Of course cups can stay in the memory but so does sportsmanship and good and beautiful football.

It’s emotional when you see the Ugandan players going up the steps to receive their Cup and gold medal draped in Eritrean flags from the hands of Mrs Askalu MenQorios(the Minister for Tourism) and General Awleya (Head of the Sports Federation). That is what the theme of the championship, “Friendship and development” mean. Well done hippos!!! Congradulations once again!!!

Eritrean players received their silver medals earlier ....but not to worry as they always got Bisha for themselves.

Deki-Ere, keep supporting our teams in thick and thin just as Goitom commented a day before the match at Eritreacompass.com saying that ” ..... Eritrea is already a winner regardless of the result.”

Until next time wedehankhum!!

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