St George (Ethiopia) eliminates ENPPI
Whereas Kenyan teams including both Gor Mahia and Tusker have found the going difficult against Egyptian sides, St George of Ethiopia seem to have found a magic elixir that enables them to compete gamely against the Egyptians.
This past weekend, they eliminated ENPPI on goal aggregate. ST George won the first leg 2-0 before loosing 1-3 in the second leg. In the opening leg, Shimeles Bekele opened the scoring after six minutes and Abebaw Butako added the second 19 minutes later to give St George a 2-0 win.
In the return leg played in Cairo, ENPPI’s Ivorian striker Vincent Die Foneye opened the scoring after 25 minutes but Tesfaye Alebachew left the hosts with an uphill climb after leveling the score 12 minutes later.
Die Foneye struck twice on 84 and 87 minutes to complete his hat-trick and put ENPPI within one goal from reaching the group stage but Saint George held out to eliminate the Egyptian outfit.
Against Zamalek
And if you think eliminating ENPPI was a fluke, please note that in early May, St George came agonizingly close to eliminating Egyptian giants Zamalek in the 2013 Champions league. They had tied the first leg 1-1 in Cairo. In the second leg in Addis Ababa, St George were leading 2-1 before a late strike by Zamalek tied the score at 2-2 thus eliminating St George on goal aggregate.
About St George
Addis Ababa based St George depends primarily on membership fees to fund the club. They count athletics legend Kenenisa Bekele as one of their most ardent supporters.
St George also has permanent youth teams at U-20 and U-17 level. They also have a womens team. The club owns its own clubhouse complete with training facilities and hostels.
They are in the process of building a stadium.A contract has recently been signed with China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technical Corporation (CGCI). The stadium will be built on a plot of land donated by the Addis Ababa City administration.
GOOD LESSON FROM ST GEORGE…MEMBERSHIP FEES TO RUN CLUB, SUPPORT FROM THE CITY COUNCIL, PERMANENT YOUTH STRUCTURES TO FEED THE SENIOR TEAM AND A CLUBHOUSE/OTHER AMENITIES. SO WHAT AILS EAST AFRICAN CLUBS………….ATTITUDE AND POOR LEADERSHIP !
Our other problem in Kenya is that instead of offering solutions we are always lamenting on how bad things are. While fans fund St. George you will find fans in Gor T-shirts hanging around the stadium entrance waiting to enter free. And once these type of fans manage to get in (Don’t mind that they bribed the security team at the gate) they are the once who abuse the players, the ‘real’ fans as well as the Tech Bench. With that attitude we cannot go far.
The reassuring thing is that we have the real fans who travel with the team to away games and are always ready to motivate the players and the Tech Bench. I always pick Jaro soldier for doing what a fanshould do. Be part of the team in good and bad times by celebrating like no tomorrow when we win and mourning when we lose but always having hope that there will be light at the end of the tunnel
Whereas St George moved quickly to build a stadium on land donated by the City, both Gor Mahia and AFC have twice been given land and twice sat on their hands only to see the land grabbed.
Gor needs 2 strikers and 2 holding mids. Do we need another goalie to sub?