The Walia Antelopes’ national team coach said he will be
cautiously optimistic going into Saturday’s World Cup play-off against Nigeria.
Ethiopia’s head coach Sewnet Bishaw insists his side
still stands a chance of qualifying for 2014 Fifa World Cup though they lost
2-1 to the Super Eagles in Addis Ababa three weeks ago.
“We have to bear in mind that they got the 2-1 advantage
in the first leg after we did not close down space they rarely got in the 90
minutes," Bishaw told cafonline
"In any case the result of a football match is
determined at the end of the 90 minutes. We are ready to challenge them until
the end.
“In the first leg we played quite well. We avoided the
heavy pressure imposed on us by the international media. We can’t deny that
Nigerians are star-studded side.
"Most of the players are playing in big European
leagues. Despite this we had an opportunity to be in a 1-0 lead."
The coach also added that playing an away match is always
challenging for the visitors.
“This will be our third time to meet Nigeria in the space
of ten months. The sad part is that we conceded two defeats in a row due to our
errors. In the first match during the African Cup of Nations in South Africa
they beat us two to nothing.
“They also scored both goals through penalties including
another late one in the dying minutes.
"Unable to take lessons from that we also made similar
mistakes during the first leg in the World Cup play off in Addis Ababa. But we
will seek to avoid these mistakes in the second leg,” he concluded.
Culled from Goal
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