Ethiopia Star Targets Quarter Finals

Ethiopia are returning to the African Cup of Nations after 31 years in the international wilderness. 

Pitted in the same group with one of the traditional tournament favorites Nigeria, defending champions Zambia and Burkina Faso, striker Adane Girma has commented on the Antelopes chances of progressing to the knock out round of the competition.

''We are here to play and win matches but we also realise that we are up against teams like Nigeria, Burkina Faso and to a degree Zambia with players playing in foreign leagues like in Europe. Ethiopia only has Saladin Said who plays in Egypt and Yusuf Saleh based in Sweden but  everyone else is playing in Ethiopia. So we are also learning as we play these more experienced players. Our target is to reach quarter finals,'' Girma told the official website of CAF.

Coach Sewnet Bishaw has been putting the pieces together in rebuilding a team to reclaim Ethiopia’s glory days as one of the top sides from the continent.

''We are a young side with me and Dawit the oldest at 27 years and the youngest member is 20years old. The coach Sewnet Bishaw has been central to the unity and cohesion in the team and he is like a father to us. We got tired of been told of our successful past history and simply want to bring back some of that success back to Ethiopia football.''

Ethiopia start the tournament with a tricky fixture against defending champions Zambia on Monday, January 21.