Memories From Kombolojo: The last time we were not pretenders
By Abel
It was 26 years ago, September 1982/Meskerem 1974 to be exact. We were about to play Guinea for a spot in the 13th Nation's cup to be held in Libya. The Ethiopian national team had gotten an unbelievable 2-2 away result from Guinea, a team that was considered to be one of the best in Africa at the time. Although the tie in Guinea gave our team an advantage, seven of the players that started the game had decided not to return to Ethiopia. The players who stayed behind were Sewnagizaw Terefe, Aboneh Mammo, Neguse Asfaw, Dawit Haileab (all Tigle Fre players) Ayale and Girma Taffese of Police.
The return game in Addis was held on the day Addis Stadium opened after the long winter break. With or without the seven players the game had to go on. The stadium was full and everybody was upbeat and singing. The game started and we continued to sing. Our joy didn't last as Guinea scored. If the game ended that way, it was Guinea who would have qualified for the African Cup in Libya and for much of the game it looked like it was going to end that way. But late in the second half, the great Mulualem Ejigu sent a pin point cross to the goal which was met by a leaping Abdurahman Adem (MIG) and he scored an unbelievable goal. The game was tied and it meant that our team qualified to the Nations cup after 6 years of absence.
We sang and danced all night. The main song was 'ayersam tizetaw ayeresam..." meaning-- we will never forget this. It has been many years since Mig's goal sent our team to Benghazi, Libya for the 13th African Nations Cup - a long drought.
My happiest memory was at home, when Gebre(Gebremadhin) headed the equalizer againt Zimbabwe in injury time to send the Eastern and Central cup into overtime.
I've had some crazy experiences in my HS days in and around cambolojo though. Some day enechawetalen :-) I've been effectively disconnected from football/soccer since I came to America. Except for the World Cup of course. (Comment this)
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But my fondest one is Ethiopias 2-0 victory over Uganda in the opening game of the 10th African Cup in Addis. Unfortunately, we were eliminated by I think Egypt in the first round.I remember the tears I cried that day. It was the first of many disappointments as a sports fan.
Thanks, Abel for a nice nostalgic article. (Comment this)
Most of the time when I talk about sport, i mostly find people who are younger than I am. Today I found you who actually saw the game I always want to talk about. Btw, I saw the 10th African Cup. unfortunately, I saw the disappointing one, the one our team was elliminated. It was a game against Egypt and the game ended a 1-1 tie. The tie favored Egypt and the qualified to the next round. Although I was only 7 at that time, I remeber the disappointment of the people. I also remember the goal scorer, Mohammed Ali (Shedad). In any case, our team missed a lot of goals and failed to go to the next round.
If I start to acount the number times i left dispponted, i would lose count: There are just too many. If you want me, I can list them:)
One thing I really want to know was the talent of the Embaisora team. I heard they were so good. I heard they had a player by the named Ahmed Abdella who was extremely talented. There was also a guy named Pache (I am not sure he played for Embaisosra or not, though).... When people talk about the golden times of our soccer, they always talk about St. George, Embaisora, Cotton (Dire Dawa)... Unfortuanately I am part of the generation who witnessed countless disappointments by our team. (Comment this)
Anyways, yep you are right. The game we were eliminated in ended in a tie. I don't remember the goal, but I may have blocked any memories of that game subconsciously. A quiz for you, you remember who won that championship and what were the teams? I still remember the winning goal from the championship game.
That Embaisora team was just incredible! They were just too good. I remember the first time I saw them. I was in katanga with my brothers and all of katanga was St George fans, of course. The electricity for that game was just incredible. See, for a long time the rivalry was between Asmara and St George, and for the most part, St George dominated that rivalry. Don't get me wrong, Asmara was a great team too! But I think psychologically they had problems with St George. There was also a political aspect of this rivalry which could not be taken discounted. If you are an NBA fan, you may relate to this. It's like the old Lakers Celtics rivalry. The Lakers, no matter how good a team they put o the floor in the 60's and 70's could not just beat the Celtics because the Celtics had their number psychologically. So, when Embaisora came on the scene all of us St George fans were like, another team from Asmara to dominate. Tell you what? The game had not even been played more than 5 minutes...they scored an incredible goal. Yes, I remember Ahmed Abdella. In fact it might have been him who scored the goal. They completely dominated the game. they were all business. St George tried to intimidate them with rough fouls and all, but these guys just played soccer. Hate to admit it, but they were just unbelievable. I still remember their jerseys. The maroon red and blue that went diagonal and the numbers were in bright yellow. Soon after they came on the scene, the revolution came and they were gone. Asmara and Embaisora were replaced with Mechal and Mekuria as St George's rivals. But soccer was not the same after that in Ethiopia. From what I remember I think Pache played for Asmara. I could be wrong though.
Yes, the golden days of soccer in Addis were with those teams. From Harar there were (Cotton) Tit mahber with the Vassallo brothers (Luchano and Italo) and midir babur. Addis teams besides St George were, Electric, Air Lines, Dagnew, Berari kokeb, and of course Eritrean teams had Asmara, Embaisora and another good team Telecommunication (Tele). I'd love to hear from someone who has more info on these teams to join this discussion. One thing though, I truly believe that if the revolution had not disrupted the soccer scene in those days, with players from Eritrea and Harrar etc...Ethiopia would have won afew more African cups in those days.
yekolotemari, you mean write an article about memories of kambolojo? (Comment this)
I also remember the 2-0 victory over Uganda in the opening game of the 10th African Cup as if it was yesterday. Solomon Shiferaw scored in the second minute (a header from a Kassahun Teka free kick), and Tesfaye “Chento” sealed the victory in the last minutes of the game. Who can forget the “Chebo” spectators made out of newspapers and magazines?
The players Ethiopia fielded in that competition are still my heroes 30 years on!! I often sing their names to my kids—even if they have no idea who they were!
Getachew “Dula” was the goalie and captain. Sadly he passed away as did the defenders Asfaw Bayu and Ahmed Buker and the midfielder Hailu Goshu. I heard that the lion-hearted holding man Kibrom Teweldemedhin was later captured by the Ethiopian Army while fighting for EPLF and the winger Mulugeta Berhane was reduced to begging and working as a taxi “Weyala”. Players such as Kassahun Teka and Asrat Haile are still part of the Ethiopian football scene and there are a couple players who live abroad and from what I heard are doing well. Whatever the fate of those players each and every one of them inspire fond memories of Ethiopian football and Campolojo in me.
Gissu
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Thanks for a very detailed answer to my question. I really, really enjoyed it. Yes, I heard bits and pieces about the great teams back in the days. I always love it when real witnesses talk about it the great games from back in the days. Although I didn't get a chance to see Embisora, Asmara, Tele, etc... I have a lot of appreciation for the teams from the north. After many years of absence the team from Asmara came to participate in the Ethiopian Championship. The name of the team was Key Baher, their jersey color was black and white just like Juventus. The year was 1972 E.C or 1980. Their first game was against Tigle Fre (my beloved team) the runner up of Shoa Championa. The game was the fist game (2:00 P,M) Everyone in the stadium witnessed what had to be one of the greatest soccer display. Yes, the game ended in 0-0 tie. But the score board is very misleading. It was a total domination by Key Bahir. Except scoring the goal, they pretty much did what they wanted to do. Yes, Tigle Fre was one of the best team at that time, but that day belonged to Key Bahir. We saw a diminutive player named Hadish Abera who showed unbelievable soccer skills. There was also Tesfamichael Dagnew who subsequently played for our national team for many years. There were also Dawit Negah, the goalie, Johnny the defense, Solomon Mantessa and Michele at the offence. They didn't shake my loyalty to the team I loved the most, Tigle Fre, but they forced to clap for them in many occasions Btw, Tigle Fre was the Champion that year. After they tied Key Bahir on the first game, they beat Ethio-Cement of Dire Dawa 7-0, and beat Police 1-0 to claim their only trophy.
You are not the only one in saying the revolution disrupted soccer. A lot of people feel the same way. Even with all the disruption, soccer tried to grow a couple more times during the revolution. The first one was in the Early 70's (our calendar)... But the growth couldn't sustain because players left the country due to political reasons
I am so happy you threw a trivia. It is actually the subject I would have discussed because I ran into one of the players who was part of that game. Here is what happened, A couple years ago, I went to this office to get my tax done. There was this Arab looking guy who was already in the office sitting and waiting for his turn. I don't know how, but we start to talk and he asked me where I was from and I told him. As soon as he heard the word Ethiopia, he said, Addis. He told me he was there, and he had great memory. I asked him how, he said he was a member of the cup winning Morocco’s national team. If he didn't tell me the detail of the game , the hotel they stayed, the kind of support they were getting, I would have thought he wasn't telling me the truth.
To answer the trivia the game was b/n Guinea and Morocco. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, and Morocco won the cup. How Morocco won the cup, I don't I know. But I know for sure there was no extra time or Penalty shootout. I think they won due to points they collected prior to the final. If there is anyone who can explain/remember this can help me out. Btw, Guinea scored first with a goal from the best player of the tournament, #22 Keita. However, Morocco scored a late tying goal from the tournament’s MVP #19 Faraz Ahmed.
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