Ethiopia FA President explains success

 

Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) President Sahlu Gebrewold Gebremariam has expressed optimism that Ethiopia will become the first East African nation to make it to the World Cup.
Gebremariam said on Friday that Ethiopia was trying to catch up with other nations and explained he has worked hard to make changes and ensure that the federation moves forward in the last four years.
He also praised government’s commitment and Fifa support which he described as a catalyst to great things that have been happening for football in the country.
"It been years of hard work and we are still not where we expect to be. The Ethiopian community has been awesome as they have stood behind the team with the crazy support and both the government and Fifa have played substantial roles to ensure our current success."
"We have been undergoing changes and we hope to achieve more than we have done by emulating other successful soccer nations to be at par. Our match against Bafana is very important but we should all remember we are brothers and the competition is being used to get the team that will represent Africa in the World Cup that is why there should be no animosity," Gebremariam told supersport.com.
The president also quashed the scepticism over the appointment of Egyptian officials to officiate the match.
"There has been a lot of talk concerning the Egyptian referees who will be incharge of the game. I would like to reiterate that as a federation we respect Fifa's decisions as they know they are ethical and qualified referees who represent Fifa and so we have no problem."