Kenya, Ethiopia look to move away from the pack

Both Ethiopia and Kenya will lay it all on the line when they lock horns in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Group F qualifier at the Bahir Dar Stadium on Wednesday.

The match is scheduled to get underway at 15h00 (CAT) and kicks-off the third round of the Afcon qualifiers.

This qualifying group, in particular, is extremely tightly contested with all four countries (Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone) in Group F locked on three points apiece after two rounds of fixtures.

Ethiopia will be coming into this game high on confidence after registering a 1-0 win over Sierra Leone in their last qualifying encounter back on September 9th thanks to a penalty goal from Getaneh Kebede.

Ethiopia, though, will face a tough task in their Kenyan opposition who are ranked 42 places higher than them on the current FIFA World rankings.

Kenya also comes into this game off the back of an impressive, and somewhat shocking, 1-0 victory over Ghana in their last qualifying match on September 8. In that match they ended with ten men on the pitch and the winning strike was an own goal from Nicholas Opoku.

Kenya followed up that victory with a 1-0 victory over Malawi three days later in an international friendly on September 11th.

Both countries have also suffered losses in their 2019 Afcon qualifying campaigns with Kenya losing their first match 2-1 to Sierra Leone away from home in October last year, while Ghana thumped Ethiopia 5-0 in November last year.

The last time these two countries met in an international match was back in July 2015 in a match that ended goalless. A month prior to that, however, Ethiopia ran out 2-0 winners in an African Nations Championship match.

Form Guide (In all competitions)

Ethiopia | W | L | D | D | W
Kenya | L | W | L | W | W

Head-to-head

(In all competitions according to FIFA.com)
Matches – 29
Ethiopia – 9
Kenya – 11
Draws – 9

FIFA Rankings

149 – Ethiopia
107 – Kenya