Eritrea vs Rwanda

Eritrea was one of the few home sides during the CAF qualifying competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil that managed to avoid defeat as they secured a morale-boosting 1-1 draw against Rwanda.

This match between Eritrea and Rwanda brought together two of the CAF member sides, with only one of them able to progress to the group stages of World Cup qualifying.

Surprisingly for many pundits, it was Eritrea that took the lead in the 35th minute, and Rwanda found itself on the back foot. The crowd that was on hand was driven into a frenzy ten minutes before the halftime whistle as Eritrea (Tekle) scored the goal to take the 1-0 lead into the break.

Rwanda regrouped at half-time, however, and soon after the restart the Rwandan team found an equaliser (Uzamukunda), which would prove to be the final goal of the game (1:1). The second leg between both teams will be played in Kigali on the 15 November 2011.

In 2010 football was the name of the game on the African continent and history in the making with the first FIFA Football World Cup held in South Africa.

Football has become a “world religion” bringing nations together on the pitch and off the pitch. Who would have thought that alone supermarket giant Sainsbury’s would sell an African instrument, “Vuvuzela”, once used to summon distant villagers to attend community gatherings, over 50.000 times in the UK.

Africa is not only made out of South Africa and so football history continued to be written also in Eritrea, a small African state on the red sea, where the young nation hosted the CECAFA under-20 tournament. The CECAFA theme was Development and Friendship and took place in Eritrea’s capital Asmara from the August 14 to August 28.

Teams from nine African nations, including Eritrea, received a warm welcome by  Mr Tesfay Gebreyesas president of the Eritrean National Football Federation. Eritrea, the hosting country delivered a successful cup with organizers squeezing the best out of resources available, it proved again Eritrea can make it even during difficult times.

President of CECAFA Mr Leodegar Tenga praised the Government, Football Federation and the people of Eritrea for their hospitality. He continued on by saying

“This tournament will not only stimulate the development of football in this region, but it will also renovate social, economic development of our people and foster friendship”.

The tournament was overall packed and tickets for matches sold out, hotels were full with African nation’s contestants and streets were decorated with banners all over the place.

Eritrean fans were on the streets chanting “Eritrea, Eritrea Eritrea” full of excitement and roads packed with cars sounding there horn. Although, Eritrea came second behind cup winner Uganda and 4 players of the national team of Zanzibar had to be disqualified because of overage the cup was a major achievement for the team and Eritrea.

By Cyrus Ombati

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has granted the 12 members of the Eritrean national soccer team asylum.

They were granted passes to allow them stay in Kenya as UNHCR works on their cases.

The players were interviewed by the Ministry of Immigration officials on Wednesday night and later granted asylum after being cleared by UNHCR.

After being given the stickers, which will last for three months, they were escorted to an undisclosed place in the city.

“They are under the UNHCR and cannot be arrested,” said an official at the UNHCR offices who sought anonymity.

Swore affidavits

The players are said to have displayed affidavits they swore before departing Asmara, saying they would not go back because of harassment in their country.

There was drama at the immigration offices as the players roughed up journalists who had camped there awaiting their arrival.

They later apologised saying they thought the journalists were police planning to arrest them.

The players resurfaced at the UNHCR offices in Nairobi days after they went missing to seek asylum status.

They arrived at the UNHCR offices in Westlands, Nairobi, in a hired car and went into a meeting with officials before being referred to the refugee offices at the Ministry of Immigration headquarters at Nyayo House, where their case was heard.

They made up nearly half the 25 players and coaches Eritrea sent to the soccer tournament for nations from East and central Africa.

Team organiser Nicholas Musonye alerted police when only 13 team members departed after the tournament ended on Sunday.

Police said they launched investigation and learnt none of the 12 players had a visa to remain in Kenya. Source: (The Standard)

Tahlil Olad Hassan, Sports Journalist, Nairobi - The Red Sea boys are out of the CECAFA challenge cup after they lost in the quarterfinal match against Tanzania.

Eritrean players displayed fair play and they were one of the best teams in the tournament but unfortunately a hat-trick from striker Mrisho Ngasa’s and goal from John Boko gave Tanzania trounced Red Sea Boys 4-0 to qualify for the semi finals of this year’s CECAFA Senior Challenge cup tournament.

Eritrea fought back hard and delivered an outstanding match against a good playing team from Tanzania. Eritrea’s top performance during the competition shows that that we can expect more good news to come from the Red Sea Boys in the near future.

Uganda scored in each half to beat Eritrea 2-0 in the final of the Cecafa Under-17 Youth Championship, at the Stade Khartoum late Monday night. Ceaser Mulumba netted in the 26 minute and Andrew Waswa sealed the victory in added time.

Earlier, both Tanzania strikers scored late in the match to give their team the bronze medal after a 2-0 win over hosts Sudan. Thomas Emmanuel (84′) and Simon Msuva (89′) closed the domination by the Tanzanians, in the third place play-off which preceded the final under the floodlights of the stadium.

Eleven countries took part in the championship and the only Cecafa absentee was Djibouti. Malawi, a guest team that is headed for the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria was eliminated 2-0 by Uganda in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-finals, Uganda edged Tanzania 5-3 on post-match penalties after a 1-1 score in normal time. Eritrea knocked out Sudan 2-0 in extra time at the same stage. Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye confirmed that henceforth the championship will be an annual event.

“Because of its importance in shaping the future of our national teams, sponsors have understood the worth of this competition and we are not likely to lack money to stage it in the future. The Government of Sudan financed this edition and they did a fantastic job,” Musonye was quoted as saying on Kenyapremierleague.com. Source: (Goal)