Flashback - St George’s journey of 2017 CAF Champions League - Final part #CAFCL

2018 CAF Champions League will start at the end of this week. St George will represent Ethiopia for the 4th time in a row who became the first Ethiopian club to enter the group staging in CAF Champions League. Hence, we are recapping last year’s St George’s CAF Champions League experience. In our part 1 and 2 episodes we saw St George's 2017 CAF Champions League preliminary, 1st round and the group's 1st 3 match experiences. This is what we have for part 3, the final part.

As Vita Vs St George

This match is 2017 CAF Champions League 4th match. St George until this match scored 9 goals and conceded none visiting opponents’ nets 9 times and keeping it's own clean. They guarded their net from the giants Mameloudi Sundawns and Esperance De Tunis. This showed the strength of the defence. Their central midfielders Aschalew Tamene and Salhadin Bargecho were selected in CAF's best 11.

It was confirmed that coach Mart Nooij would not return to the club. The board's meeting on the matter passed a decision the vice coach Fasil Tekalegn and Zerihun Shengeta head the team. Hence, the Horsemen left for Democratic Republic of Congo led by the vice coaches.

Behailu Assefa's return after a long time for this match was a good news. Coaches Fasil Tekalegn and Zerihun Shengeta brought 4-2-3-1 formation to the game. Adane Girma and Mintesinot Adane were on the bench. Zerihun Tadele was the goalkeeper. Frezer Kassa, Aschalew Tamene, Salhadin Bargecho and Abebaw Butako were in defence. Natnael Zeleke and Tesfaye Alebachew took the holding midfield. Abdulkarim Nikima became the only attacking midfielder with Prince Severniho linning up on the right and Behailu Assefa on the left. Salhadin Seid was the only center forward.

The game began. The Horsemen started putting an effort to play possessing the ball. They started building up the ball in their own territory to reach their opponent's half. But Vita scored at the 7th min the ball they won from center half line. St George's net was breached for the first time after 7 matches. Vita took possession after scoring the goal. The Horsemen could not show their famous fast transition on the pitch.

On the 27th min, the referee gave an ambiguous penalty for Vita the Frezer Kassa saw a yellow card. Vita changed the penalty into a goal to lead 2-0. The Horsemen defence could not be at its best. It was seen being challenged repeatedly by Vita. The 1st half of the match ended with AS Vita leading 2-0.

St George made a change of 2 players starting the beginning of the 2nd half. Adane Girma was changed in by Behailu Assefa and Mintesinot Adane by Tesfaye Alebachew. The Horsemen took visible upper-hand of the match after the changes. They were able create goal opportunities more frequently. On the 65th min Salhadin Seid noticed the goalkeeper left his position and shot outside the penalty box to score a goal. It was then AS Vita 2-1 St George.

The Horsemen kept on creating goal opportunities. They created opportunities by Salhadin Seid, Adane Girma, Prince Severniho, Mintesinot Adane and Natnael Zeleke. But they could not turn them into goals and the match was won by AS Vita. St George had Its first 2017 CAF Champions League defeat.

St George Vs Mameloudi Sundowns

This match was crucial to both clubs. The winner would progress to quarter final and the loser will be stopped from its run. St George fans had hope as this match was held in Addis Ababa stadium. They hoped to make more history by winning Sundowns. Both the team and the fans went on with preparation.

On match day the stadium was surrounded by long queue lines. The long lines engulfed the stadium. Only few among the mass made it inside the stadium. The rest left as the stadium got full to watch the match on TV.

Addis Ababa stadium stood on its one feet by St George songs. The coaches, players and delegates of Mameloudi Sundowns were amazed by the atmosphere when they reached the stadium. They put their hands on their mouth. They rushed to record the support they were witnessing in the stadium with their mobile phones. They gave in to St George fans support discussing with each other.

We would like to bring Soccer Ethiopia's report on what Mameloudi Sundowns Coach, Pitso Mosimane said about St George fans.

"We were doing out warm up when we watched them as tourists the fans cheering their team with deep emotion. (Pitso expressed applauding his admiration.) It was beautiful. If my team had this vibe, it would change completely. To tell the truth, what we saw was a beautiful thing."

"I told the coaches and the team that today's supporting vibe brought back memories from my playing time in Europe. We saw such vibe when we played with Zamalek in Champions League final in front of 70,000 attendants. We don't see this in South Africa. I hope for the day we come back to play here.”

The game began. Sundowns were the starters. The Horsemen dominated from the beginning. They repeatedly visited Sundowns' territory. On the 4th min, Sundowns' defender deflected Behailu Assefa's cross on the post to a near goal. On the 6th min, Abdulkarim Nikima's shot nearly missed the net. On the 11th min, Abebaw Butuko's free kick got cleared by the goalkeeper. And the game went on.

The 4th referee showed additional 1 min on the 1st half. At this moment, the Horsemen got a penalty as a Sundowns defender touched the ball with his hand in the penalty box. The stadium was heated again. Salhadin Seid held the ball and put it on penalty spot. Salhadin Seid not running far hit the ball on the right of the goal. But Africa’s no1 goalkeeper Denis Oniyango cleared the shot. This saw the result 0-0 at half time.

The 2nd half took another turn. As the minutes went by, Sundowns kept interrupting the game as if they wanted the draw. The Horsemen made changes of players. Yasir Mugerwa in place of Behailu Assefa and Bruno Kone in place of Freser Kassa got in. But this further disrupted the team's form and became formless. At the 83rd min, Sundowns scored using the Horsemen's mistake. Mameloudi Sundowns secured a spot on the next round defeating St George away in front of its fans. St George, who made it to Africa Champions League group staging for the first time, run was halted after a lot of hope and some regret, a lot of joy and fraction of despair.

Esperance De Tunis Vs St George

This match was the group’s last match played in Tunis. It was played after St George was already disqualified from the next round and Esperance confirmed it progressed. Coaches Fasil Tekalegn and Zerihun Shengeta took their team in 4-3-3 formation.

The Horsemen were under pressure since the beginning of the game. Esperance dominated completely and made repeated goal attempts. The Horsemen defenders got real busy. But they only could guard their net until the 28th min. Esperance scored 4 goals on the 28th, 35th, 81st and 90+4th minutes. The Horsemen lost 4-0 absolutely dominated. This became the end of St George’s 2017 CAF Champions League.

2017 CAF Champions League is a year St George achieved shiny glories. Years & apos; plan to enter CAF Champions League was finally a success. It did more than entering the group staging and was a competent and challenging team. It was a season what was achieved was more than what was not. Alongside this, St George’s center forward was crowned high scorer of the tournament with 7 goals.

Dear Yeferesegnochu Gets/የፈረሰኞቹ ገጽ/ followers 2018 CAF Champions League being around the corner, we tried to see St George’s 2017 CAF Champions League journey in these 3 parts. We tried to go over the very amazing season. This season where we achieved so much and have a lot of memories has passed but another opportunity is days away for us to repeat our success and make new history.

This season must be where we continue with our strengths and improve our weaknesses. St George is not a club who lives only in yesterday’s glories. The house of St George is a house where yesterday is not forgotten and today is a day to make a history. It is a house build from glorious history made and in the making. This year’s journey will officially begin the coming Sunday. The Horsemen will have their preliminary match against the South Sudan, El Salam Wau at Addis Ababa stadium this Sunday at 4:00 pm.

Successful season and glory to the great St George!

We will win!
We have full faith in Sanjaw!