Match Preview:- Woldia Vs St George

Ethiopian Premier League 11th week matches will be played starting tomorrow at Addis Ababa and regional states' stadiums. This week's St Georg EPL match is at Shekh Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi stadium against Woldia SC. The match between St George and Woldia will take place on Friday at 3pm.

Woldia Vs St George last season meetings!

These two teams had their 1st round game of 2016/17 EPL season, on Wednesday January 11, 2017 at 5:30 pm in the evening and it was St George who won the match. It took the Horsemen 75 minutes to score the winning goal when Salhadin Seid passed a ball to Abubaker Sani who shot it into the net from just outside the box.

The 2nd round match of 2016/17 EPL season between these two teams was played on Wednesday March 26, 2017 at Shekh Mohammed Al Amoudi stadium and it was a very vital game to St George. And so, many St George fans travelled for the match. The fans travelled with 8 buses, private cars and by plane to support their club. 

Just like the 1st leg match, the Horsemen took long to score a goal. At the 67th min, Abdulkarim Nikima shot a winning goal from just outside the box to give St George the crucial 3 points.

Current season numbers of these teams!

St George in this season played 8 matches to win 4 and draw 4 while Woldia played 8 as well and won 2, drew 4 and lost 2. Based on this, the Horsemen are 2nd on the Premier League table collecting 16 pts and Woldia is 11th with 10 points. 

Let’s discuss Woldia's home matches first as St George is having this match away!

St George’s opponent, Woldia, had 3 Premier League matches at home to win 2 in front of their fans and draw the other. So far, they did not lose or concede a goal at home. The matches won were against Adama Kenema and Arbaminch Kenema. They defeated these two teams with the same 2-0 result and scored 4 goals in total.

We mentioned earlier that they drew one match at home. This match was against Diredawa Kenema which ended 0-0. Woldia in all home matches scored 4 goals in total and conceded none.

Woldia had 5 away matches so far in the current season and they could not win any of the 5 matches drawing 3 and losing the other. The matches they lost were against Hawassa Kenema by 4-1 and Ethiopia Coffee by 2-0.

Woldia drew the 3 away matches, against Fasik Kenema with 0-0, Sidama Bunna with 1-1 and Welwalo Adigrat University with 0-0. Among these matches, the one against Welwalo Adigrat University was held at Addis Ababa stadium. Woldia scored 2 goals and conceded 7 in total in the 5 matches.

St George scored 11 goals in 8 matches and conceded 2. Woldia on the other hand, scored 6 goals and conceded 7 in total. St George on average scored 1.38 goals per game while Woldia scored 0.75. St George on average conceded 0.25 goals and Woldia conceded 0.88.

Woldia Sport Club game plan!

Woldia is using 4-2-3-1 formation in the majority of its games in the current season. Woldia's line up against Welwalo Adigrat University at the beginning of this week looked like the following.

Goalkeeper:- Emicril Belinge

Defenders:- Yared Hassen, Biyadegelegn Elias, Adamu Mohammed, Tadele Mihret

Defending Midfielders:- Daniel Demissie, Habtamu Shewalem, 

Wing Midfielders and Attacking Midfielders:- Fitsum GebreMariam, Minyahil Teshome, Yared Birhanu

Centre Forward:- Edom Kadezo

On this match, Woldia used players on different positions changing roles due to player changes following an injury. Woldia started the match making the wing midfielder a holding midfielder and made Tesfaye Alebachew holding midfielder following the injury the central defender Adamu Mohammed and brought Daniel Demissie back to his usual position. Currently they are using Edom Kodezo as a central striker and Andualem Nigussie is on the bench. And they are playing Minyahil Teshome as attacking midfielder, a position Solomon GebreMedehin was in earlier. 

  

Woldia’s game plan varies based on the players they use. For instance, when they use Andualem Nigussie as a centre forward, the team tries to make passes forward repeatedly, especially with crosses to him from the sides. We observed, Andualem Nigussie's second balls to wing strikers playing narrowing the field being major goal opportunities. On the contrary, when Solomon G/Medehin plays in attacking midfield, most balls hit the wings. Since he is good with the ball in narrow spaces, his passes to wing midfielders between the lines are good too.

Woldia's side defenders prioritize defending than attacking getting to opponent’s field with a slow run. Hence, Woldia's obvious weakness is in this position. These wing defenders easily get beaten by players pushing the ball forward. The attacks on the sides are visibly strong.  Especially, the team's left is the most vulnerable one to attack Woldia. Since Fitsum G/Mariam playing as a wing midfielder involves in attacking completely, the gap in this side is too bold.

Woldia’s central defenders and the goalkeeper are the main actors in their defence. The two central defenders are good with balls in the air and the goalkeeper's timing for air balls in the air is also good. On the matches we watched, he was deflecting shots both from long distance and short distance with a good performance.

Although Woldia looks like they want to attack with their left, this doesn’t seem to be executed well. Their small number when they leave their side of the pitch seems to be an obstacle for this. The left side where Fitsum G/Mariam plays as wing midfielder is comparatively strong. Majority of their goal opportunities and goals scored arise from this side. But, because of the things mentioned above, most of the passes don’t end up being goal opportunities.

Injuries in St George house!

Gadissa Mebrate, Ame Mohammed, Alula Girma, Salhadin Seid, Natnael Zeleke and Tadele Mengesha are sidelined from this match due to injuries.

We will win! 

We have full faith in Sanjaw!