Ethiopia's Salahdin Said, centre, heads the ball at Nigeria's goal during their African Cup of Nations Group C match at Rustenburg, South Africa. After falling off the football map for three decades Ethiopia is now just two games away from qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Armando Franca / AP Photo
Ethiopia's Salahdin Said, centre, heads the ball at Nigeria's goal during their African Cup of Nations Group C match at Rustenburg, South Africa. After falling off the football map for three decades EShow more

You can almost see Sao Paulo from Addis Ababa



On the dirty streets of the capital, where the sewers flow openly and raggedy donkeys traipse, the shoeshiners will stop and the peddlers will pause. Businessmen will take a break from their weekend exertions and women carrying bundled-up babies on their backs will allow themselves a rest.

Sunday, at 4pm local time, Addis Ababa will come to a standstill.

Ethiopia, the lowest-ranked African side still capable of qualifying for next summer’s Fifa World Cup, play the first of two play-off matches against the champions of the continent, Nigeria.

Win and the team dubbed the Walya Antelopes can dream of a Brazilian migration next June; lose and any chance they have of qualifying for their first global showpiece will be rendered as thin as the country’s ubiquitous injera bread.

Confidence appears high. A Brobdingnagian billboard close to the airport announces Ethiopian Airlines now fly direct to Sao Paulo, and a ticketing clerk for the carrier says the route has proved “very popular so far”.

One man who speaks as if his seat to South America is already booked is Minyahil Teshome, Ethiopia’s fleet-footed playmaker.

Even before the crucial play-off, it is the prospect of facing the likes of Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi that the Dedebit midfielder is focusing on.

“We are already seeing beyond Nigeria,” Minyahil told Amharic magazine Addis Guday. “It is the World Cup we are preparing for, where we hope to play against Spain and Argentina on the field. We believe that our dream will be realised. We are counting on our fans to help us achieve this objective.”

The fans, many of whom were last night preparing to sleep on the dusty streets around the National Stadium in hope of acquiring one of 20,000 tickets this morning, are ready.

Others will congregate in the tea rooms, cafes, bars and restaurants to watch on television.

“Every TV in the country will have the game on,” says Betemariam Hailu, an Addis-born free-lance sports writer.

“Everyone will be watching.”

Inside the bustling Tomoca cafe in the capital’s piazza district, amid the pungent aroma of burnt coffee beans, the conversations among the small groups of standing men centre on Sunday’s game.

Nigeria, they say, with their international experience and players employed across Europe, will likely be too strong over two legs.

But the first match?

Well, you just never know.

Taddesse Woldegabrel, besuited and bespectacled, studied in London and attended the 1966 World Cup final.

He is able to recite England’s entire starting XI as if he were still standing behind the goals at Wembley Stadium.

Between sips of a steaming hot espresso, he contends that “these two games against Nigeria are our World Cup final”.

“Unless we win this first match handsomely, we have already lost because winning in Nigeria is impossible,” he said. “We are playing against players from Chelsea and Liverpool – and Nigerians have the voodoo, also.”

The last time the two sides met was in January at the African Cup of Nations in South Africa.

Nigeria triumphed 2-0, yet the match proved tighter than many expected with two late penalties from Victor Moses deciding it.

For many, it was more proof that Ethiopia, under coach Sewnet Bishaw, are becoming an emerging force in East African football.

The AFCON campaign was their first in 31 years, and in World Cup qualifying they topped their group, despite a three-point deduction for fielding Minyahil against Botswana when he was suspended.

“We have done our best, now we leave it in the hands of God,” says Solomon, a tour guide working at St George’s Cathedral. “We pray for victory because it would inspire a generation. The young people, especially in the countryside, have nowhere to play sport, so instead they smoke, they drink, they chew qat. Victory could help change that.”

Even in Addis, some children are resigned to a granite wasteland for their football practice.

On the sidelines of Churchill Avenue, one of the city’s busiest streets, a group of teenage boys are put through their paces, with the proliferation of Liverpool and AC Milan shirts perhaps explained by the Ethiopian calendar being “between seven and eight years” behind the Gregorian system.

Sunday, however, those famous shirts will be swapped for the glorious green and gold stripes of the Walya Antelopes.

The old Russian taxis careering down Churchill will grind to a stop as fans outside the stadium begin to filter in.

Then, two hours later, Ethiopia might – just might – erupt in jubilation.

gmeenaghan@thenational.ae

Water waste

In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.

Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.

A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.

The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

Despacito's dominance in numbers

Released: 2017

Peak chart position: No.1 in more than 47 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Lebanon

Views: 5.3 billion on YouTube

Sales: With 10 million downloads in the US, Despacito became the first Latin single to receive Diamond sales certification

Streams: 1.3 billion combined audio and video by the end of 2017, making it the biggest digital hit of the year.

Awards: 17, including Record of the Year at last year’s prestigious Latin Grammy Awards, as well as five Billboard Music Awards

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
The specs: 2018 Bentley Bentayga V8

Price, base: Dh853,226

Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 550hp @ 6,000pm

Torque: 770Nm @ 1,960rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L / 100km

Representing%20UAE%20overseas
%3Cp%3E%0DIf%20Catherine%20Richards%20debuts%20for%20Wales%20in%20the%20Six%20Nations%2C%20she%20will%20be%20the%20latest%20to%20have%20made%20it%20from%20the%20UAE%20to%20the%20top%20tier%20of%20the%20international%20game%20in%20the%20oval%20ball%20codes.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESeren%20Gough-Walters%20(Wales%20rugby%20league)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EBorn%20in%20Dubai%2C%20raised%20in%20Sharjah%2C%20and%20once%20an%20immigration%20officer%20at%20the%20British%20Embassy%20in%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20she%20debuted%20for%20Wales%20in%20rugby%20league%20in%202021.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESophie%20Shams%20(England%20sevens)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EWith%20an%20Emirati%20father%20and%20English%20mother%2C%20Shams%20excelled%20at%20rugby%20at%20school%20in%20Dubai%2C%20and%20went%20on%20to%20represent%20England%20on%20the%20sevens%20circuit.%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFiona%20Reidy%20(Ireland)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMade%20her%20Test%20rugby%20bow%20for%20Ireland%20against%20England%20in%202015%2C%20having%20played%20for%20four%20years%20in%20the%20capital%20with%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Harlequins%20previously.%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
A State of Passion

Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi

Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah

Rating: 4/5

Analysis

Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

My Country: A Syrian Memoir

Kassem Eid, Bloomsbury

The Brutalist

Director: Brady Corbet

Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn

Rating: 3.5/5

The specs

Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6

Power: 400hp

Torque: 475Nm

Transmission: 9-speed automatic

Price: From Dh215,900

On sale: Now

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THE SPECS

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo

Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm

Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto

Top speed: 250kph

Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: Dh146,999

Origin
Dan Brown
Doubleday

FIGHT CARD

Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)

Catchweight 67kg Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) v Fouad Mesdari (ALG)

Lighweight Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) v Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)

Catchweight 73kg Mostafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) v Yazid Chouchane (ALG)

Middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) v Badreddine Diani (MAR)

Catchweight 78kg Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Adnan Bushashy (ALG)

Middleweight Sallaheddine Dekhissi (MAR) v Abdel Emam (EGY)

Catchweight 65kg Rachid Hazoume (MAR) v Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG)

Lighweight Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)

Catchweight 79kg Omar Hussein (PAL) v Souhil Tahiri (ALG)

Middleweight Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Laid Zerhouni (ALG)