Ethiopia scored the biggest goal of the second day of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, beating Egypt by 2-0 in a group that is now fully revived with four teams on three points (Guinea, Malawi, Egypt and Ethiopia).
It was the surprise result of the second day of the AFCON2023 qualifiers on Thursday 9 June. Ethiopia's historic second win over Egypt (2-0) was indeed one of the Walias' biggest performances of the last decade. The absence of Egyptian stars such as Mohamed Salah, Ahmed Hegazi, Mahmoud Trezeguet and Mohamed Elneny, does not take away the merit of the Ethiopians. Two goals (21st and 39th) in the first half, the Egyptians were silent and contained for 90 minutes, Wubetu Abate's players then multiplied their efforts to get back into the race. They were already under pressure after losing 2-1 to Malawi in Group D.
Ethiopia can also thank the Malawian public who came out en masse to push them to beat Egypt. If Ethiopia succeeded in their mission, it is also thanks to the score played by these fans. "I felt like we were playing in our country. All the Malawian fans were supporting us and I would like to send them a message of thanks and appreciation," said the Walias coach who felt at home at the Malawi Bingu National Stadium. Ethiopia played their match there due to the lack of a CAF approved pitch back at home.
36,000 bonus for the players
This great performance of the Ethiopian players is rewarded to its true value. The Football Federation has released an envelope of 36,000 euros as bonuses. This is worth all the sacrifices, especially since Ethiopia had just secured its second victory over Egypt. After 17 matches, the Pharaohs have won 13 and drawn two. In those matches, Egypt managed to score 56 goals, while Ethiopia scored 14.
Wubetu Abate is pleased with the result. "We are happy with the result. Because we played against a great team in Africa like Egypt," he said before noting: "When we review the game, we were supposed to go back to defence after scoring twice to maintain the result. But we preferred to play offensively, to put pressure on Egypt. And prevent them from building. We still managed to create many chances. We could have scored more than two goals."
