Saints' lose keeper, striker to Orlando

Reigning Ethiopian Premier League champions Saint George did not only lose their successful Serbian coach to the South African giants Orlando Pirates, but also two of their best players.

Mitto's successful season at home winning two consecutive premier league titles, a win over Tunisian champions Etoile d' Sahel and a 4-0 victory at home over Ghanaian Hearts of Oak in the Champion's League made him a prime target of the South African team.

Star striker Fikru Teffera and Uganda Dennis Onyango followed their mentor to South Africa , the former trial and the latter on a permanent move.

Fikru, who joined Saint George from Adama Kenema made incredible progress under the Serbian coach, and is now on trial period in South Africa with Orlando Pirates.

Being the fighter he is, Fikru could end up being the first Ethiopian player to play in the South African league.

Goalkeeper Denis had been a permanent fixture for the Saints in both the premier league and the championss league. Two seasons in the league, Denis contributed more than any player in the club to claim the league title twice in a row. Since Mitto was the man who brought Denis from Ugandan club Villa, it was no surprise when he followed the Serbian to South Africa .

Denis will surely be missed by his former teammates as St George hunt for a new keeper.

In related news, Saint George striker Ephraim Zeru is pleading for the club to release him so he could join Trans Ethiopia for a second spell.

Ephraim has been one of the most successful strikers for Trans before the saints signed him with a 50,000 birr fee to regularly occupy the reserve bench.

Junior athletes fail to impress in China

The World Junior Athletics championship that took place in Beijing , China was wrapped up with Kenya surprising everyone to become the overall winner of the tournament. Ethiopia , one of the favorites to win a half dozen gold medals went to China with a squad of 11 athletes to finish 7th in the medal tables.

With more than 450 athletes from 44 nations taking part in the tournament, the championship was regarded as one of the best in recent times.

The host nation had the highest numbers of athletes and was the hot favorite to claim the overall championship, while Russia was expected to pose the biggest challenge.

As predicted before the start of the event, China led the medal table until the fifth day where the astonishing Kenyans over took the lead. The Chinese, who are getting ready to host the Olympics in two years, were not happy with the result.

Ethiopia managed to win just two gold medals thanks to Gelani and Tariku Bekele who won the 10,000 and 5,000 meter races respectively. Two gold medals, one silver and a bronze medal helped Ethiopia lie 7th in the table. The performance of Ethiopian athletes has been below par both at the All African Games in Mauritius and the World Junior Athletics, and that has raised more than a couple of eyebrows with concern about the Ethiopian contingent that would travel to China for the Olympics..

The production of good athletes seems to have hit a snag as we don't see potential heirs to the thrones of Haile Gebreselassie and Kenenisa Bekele. Though the coaches claim it wasn't a matter to worry about, the results speak for themselves. Kenya, the latest world athletics heavy weight dominated the occasion by winning six gold medals, six silver and three bronze medals, a total of 15 medals with China finishing second with 17 medals - five gold, five silver and seven bronze medals.

Russia finished third with four gold, two silver and three bronze medals, while Estonia one of the surprise packages clinched fourth with four gold medals. The US finished 5th followed by Jamaica with two gold medals.

The below par performance by Ethiopia 's female athletes was what dragged on the overall standing of Ethiopia in the tournament. The results show that the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) is not doing well in scouting for new athletes.

With the Beijing Olympic around the corner, the EAF is going in the wrong direction, all but conforming the fears of former national athletics team coach Dr Yilma Berta coming true.

Kenenisa, Meseret close in on golden league jackpot

As expected, World and Olympic 10,000 meter champion Kenenisa Bekele won the IAAF Golden League 5,000 meter race in devastating style, edging closer to sharing the half million jackpot.

Led on from the beginning by his younger brother Tariku, Kenenisa was stretched to the limit as he and his brother left the pack just at the 1,200 meter mark and ran a different race from there on.

Though Kenenisa was well within the record breaking time with just a lap to go, his exhaustion caught up with him and he finished 10 seconds outside his own world record.

Two more wins would mean that Kenenisa will claim his stake from the 1 million USD set aside by the IAAF.

Double World Champion Tirunesh Dibaba won her fifth race in a row in the 5,000 meter race to seal her name among those who won a piece of the pie in the golden league race. Though Tirunesh was a force to reckon, her actions following the race were not filled with dignity that Ethiopian athletes are supposed to display.

After being pumped up the entire race by compatriot Meseret Defar and after even being told to move ahead, Tirunesh's win was marred by her lack of respect and love for her compatriot.

The race was what many would call controversial because Meseret literally let Tirunesh win the race as the former did not even deploy he world class final sprint and Tirunesh didn't have to display her usual gritty run to claim her fifth win in the series.

Though the two Ethiopians were surrounded by a string of runners from Great Britain and of course their constant rival - Kenya 's Isabella Ochichi - they were in a class of their own, except for Meseret looking to play the obliging and kind Ethiopian neighbor.

With about five laps to go, Mesert and Defar were well away from the pack before they were caught with the British runner who overtook them for a few seconds. But even when the two Ethiopians were ready to have a go for it, they were so oblivious of the other athletes, it was as if the other athletes were running a completely different event.

EFF to build a strong team

Unlike recent times, the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) seems committed to build a national football team strong enough to make it to the Cup of African Nations (CAN), after a three decade absence.

Apart from organizing friendly matches, the EFF is calling players who have Ethiopian origins and other foreign based players. Though the promise of bringing a foreign coach never materialized, many believe that the federation is doing every thing possible.

The Ethipian team defeated visiting Yemen side 1-0, following that up by another similar victory over the Kenyan national team. The Ethiopian squad under Sewnet Bishaw has been training hard for the first leg of the qualification match against Lybia. The team has so far displayed a strong defense, while the attack is somewhat lame. Both friendly matches saw the national team miss tons of scoring chances, showing that Sewent is yet to name an accomplished striker. Fikru Tefera, scorer of the only goal against Yemen , has been suspended by CAF for six international fixtures, opening the door for St George striker Binyam Assefa. A lack of coordination among the two strikers was noticed in both games. The midfield is also criticized for lack of an inspiring playmaker, a role so far reserved for Ashenafi Girma and Mulualem Regassa.

The arrival of former national team striker and the all time premier league season top scorer Yordanos Abay to join the national squad has been the highlight of the team so far. The former Dire Dawa Textile, Electric and Ethiopian Coffee front man has been playing in Yemen where he made a name for himself as a goal poacher. Known as the wizard in the penalty box, Yordanos was twice top scorer of the Yemeni league. Yordanos' return to the Ethiopian squad means additional fire power for Sewnet's squad. The problem though would be expecting Yordanos to enter his goal scoring form after all this time in the weak Yemeni league. Yordanos is expected to form a strong partnership with Binyam upfront, though it could take him more time to readjust to the Ethiopian playing style.

In the mean time, Lencho Sciba, playing in the German league, will join Yordanos at the team. Never known as a footballer at home, Sciba is also expected to bring his German football experience to help Ethiopia make it into the 18th CAN to be held in Ghana in 2008. In related news, Ethiopia tops East African Football, according to the FIFA's latest world ranking. Two successive CECAFA titles and one zonal youth tournament helped Ethiopia top East African soccer followed by Uganda , Rwanda , Sudan , Kenya , Tanzania , Burundi , Eritrea , Somalia and Djibouti respectively. This is the first time Ethiopia took the number one position in the East and Central African Zonal soccer table.

Ethiopian athletes top IAAF ranking

Olympic champion Meseret Defar out muscled Tirunesh Dibaba to take the top spot in the IAAF ranking. Meseret beat Tirunesh at the All African Championships in Mauritius , a feat that helped the world record holder to clinch top spot with 1386 points. Although Tirunesh has dominated the 5000 meter for some time now, her astonishing four victories in the golden league failed to earn her the top spot.

Tirunesh, who beat Meseret three times in the golden league this season, is still hot favorite to win the season's top athlete accolade. However, Tirunesh currently lies fourth in the latest ranking behind American athletes Tania Richards and Lashinda Demus. Tania lies second on 1397 points while Lashinda is third on 1390 points.

Berhane Adere, now well past her peak, now occupies 12th position on 1356 points while Olympic silver medalist Ejegayehu Dibaba slipped drastically from 12th position to 44th on 1319 points. The latest count helped rising star Gelete Burka to lie 19th from her previous rank of 32nd position.

In the men's category, Jamaican world 100 meter record holder Assafa Powell leap forged to the top from his former 4th spot with 1431 points. On his way up, Assafa displaced America 's Justin Gatlin and Ethiopia 's Kenenisa Bekele.

Kenenisa lies second two points behind Powell. Kenenisa's gold medal at the African Championship helped him earn a strong second place. American Jeremy Wariner is third followed by Kenyan Daniel Kipkiter.

Justin slipped down to 7th place. With two IAAF golden league races remaining, Assafa and Kenenisa are expected to battle out the season's male athlete of the season while the women's competition seems to be between Meseret and Tirunesh. Amazingly enough, Kenenisa is the only Ethiopian athlete in the top 40 IAAF list while there are 11 Kenyan's in the same list. Kenenisa's younger brother Tariku is 42nd in the table on 1335 points.

Former player engaged in saintly mission

Shocked and heart broken on hearing news of the flood catastrophe in Dire Dawa, former Ethiopia Banks right full back Shewarega Desta took it upon himself to raise funds for the victims from premier league players and clubs.

Following his retirement eight years ago, Shewarega has been serving as a member of the Ethiopia Banks technical committee. Shewarga's first reaction to the sudden flooding in Dire Dawa - the popular winter retreat for many Ethiopian clubs preseason training- was to convince his club Ethiopia Banks players to do some thing about it. A week later, his initial idea spread to five other clubs, who have now signed up to be part of the campaign.

A Commercial Bank civil servant and father of twin daughters, Shewarega told Capital, "Dire Dawa is famous among Ethiopian soccer players. We have all gone there at one time or another and had good times. It is now time for us to pay back its kindness,"

"Listening to the news, I was shocked and told myself that I should convince Banks sport committee to get involved in the matter. When I called my close friend, former Coffee and national team striker Asseged Tesfaye (himself from Dire Dawa) and told him my idea he said he would help to convince Coffee. Then I called former national team player Ephrem Gizachew - now working with St George - who said that he would not only convince the players but also the staff members," he added.

After approaching several other clubs, Shewarega believes that his idea has been accepted by many. With the help of friends and those who felt sorry for what happened in Dire Dawa, Shewarega managed to secure a full day's lodging expense to go to Dire Dawa; the expense was collected from Ethiopia Banks, Ethiopian Coffee, Saint George, Nyala, Insurance and Electric clubs.

The clubs' presidents signed to forward a full day's expense for 29 players each in cash. Saint George would pay the amount for 35 individuals (players and office staffs).

Shewarega has also managed to convince all premier league clubs to participate in a mini tournament to be held in Dire Dawa stadium may be in October. "Now that I have succeeded in initiating the players, I am trying to convince musicians to participate in a one day show. If successful, that could be followed by an athletics event where legend Haile GebreSelassie and Kenenisa Bekele could participate. I have already started looking for a sponsors who could publish the life stories of the soccer players and give away the money to the Dire Dawa people," said Shewarega.

Coaches should start trusting each other

A geologist friend of mine told me that the weekly sport newspaper 'Ethio Soccer' came out with a fantastic survey about the would be Ethiopian national squad formation. When I read the paper, I was surprised and at the same time appreciated what Mensur Abdulkeni managed to cook up. This must be the first ever survey made about the national team and it really was an important under taking to help the national team coaches in building their squad. As every Ethiopian has the right to suggest ideas about their national squad, Mensur managed to interview eight individuals who have been in the business for more than a decade. The eight men talk about a panel that decides who gets to play in the team and who gets to coach the team. This time it is Sewnet Bishaw who gets to decide who plays where. However, Mensur came up with a buffet of formations with substantial argument to go with it and Sewnet is lucky to have such variety to choose to his liking.

One thing to emphasize is that this whole set up needs some one positive enough to realize that the end result would benefit Ethiopian football. For a coach to accept these different suggestions, he needs to be open hearted and free of any suspicion. I can dare say that neither Sewnet nor his assistant Gebremedin are such personalities.

Former Coffee and national team striker Asseged Tesfaye, Ethiopian national junior team coach Seyoum Abate and his assistant Tsegaye K/Mariam, Worku Dergeba, former national team Coffee and Insurance midfielder Tilahun Mengesha were all mentioned and Mensur tried to suggested what they could do if they were given the coaching position. The argument showed what kind of players each coach would select and what kind of play they would formulate. It was argued in the paper that the 4-4-2 formation was better than the 3-5-2, while others argued that the 4-3-3 formation should be adopted for the home game here in Addis against Libya .

Mensur and all eight of the individuals are simply there to give a wider scope to Sewnet and his staff with no strings attached. Sewnet is by no means obliged to accept their suggestions since many of our coaches have no culture of coming near each other and discuss such matters.

Mensur's plan of getting the coaches to discuss the matter of football might be a very difficult matter. We Ethiopians know that bickering against eacher has taken the country's football to no man's land. This time, many including the EFF have vowed to change what the history books recorded in the past 30 years. The idea of a coach coming together with other coaches and talking could be an unfathomable matter, but is about time we start doing just that.