Durban – Hugo Broos’ Bafana Bafana side may be technically stronger than Ethiopia but the Walias promise to be tough opposition.
The 134th ranked nation will make up for their lack of technical qualities with their physicality and Bafana Bafana are likely to face unusual and difficult conditions when playing in the East African nation.
Ethiopia will bring back bad memories to Bafana Bafana faithful as it was virtually them who killed the national team’s chances of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
Bafana Bafana previously played Ethiopia twice before in World Cup qualifiers with the East Africans emerging as the better team.
1. Bafana Bafana 1-1 Ethiopia (June 2012)
Saladin Said gave Ethiopia a surprise lead before the half-hour mark. Bafana Bafana dominated possession but were unable to make it count as they were frustrated by the away side. This game happened to be the last in charge of the national team for Pitso Mosimane. A sequence of poor results combined with a poor start to the World Cup qualifiers promoted the South African Football Association to fire “Jingles” and replace him with Gordon Igesund.
Katlego Mphela did manage to rescue Bafana Bafana from defeat as he scored in the 77th minute.
2. Ethiopia 2-1 Bafana Bafana (June 2013)
This game was arguably the worst in the career of Bernard Parker and it was the result that virtually stopped Bafana Bafana from qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. Parker first gave Bafana the lead after 34 minutes with a textbook volley. Getaneh Kebede went on to equalize for the Ethiopians just eight minutes later following a defensive lapse from South Africa.
Parker later ended up heading into his own net which allowed Ethiopia to move to the top of the group before they lost 4-1 on aggregate to Nigeria in the next round.
IOL Sport