2014 CHAN: Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria qualify for finals

There was redemption of sorts for Ethiopia’s Minyahil Teshome Beyene as his spot kick sealed Ethiopia’s place at the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals in South Africa.
They are joined at the finals of the tournament for the locally-based players by Uganda and Nigeria, who qualified despite a 2-0 loss in Ivory Coast.
Beyene was the man at the centre of the mistake that saw Ethiopia lose three vital 2014 World Cup qualifying points but was the hero as Ethiopia beat Rwanda on penalties on Saturday.
Rwanda won the second leg of the qualifier in Kigali 1-0 to make it 1-1 on aggregate.
2014 CHAN qualifiers so far
Hosts: South Africa
North Zone: Morocco, Libya
West A Zone: Mauritania
West B Zone: Ghana
Central East Zone: Uganda, Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s goalkeeper Sisay Bancha saved a post-match spot kick before Beyene stepped up and sent his team to next year’s finals in South Africa.
Beyene played in the Walya Antelope’s 2-1 win over Botswana in a World Cup qualifier on 8 June when he should have been suspended, having picked up two yellow cards in previous qualifiers.
Fifa overturned the win for Ethiopia and handed Botswana a 3-0 victory instead.
Uganda also qualified for the finals with a 3-1 win in Kampala over over Tanzania on Saturday.
It completed a 4-1 aggregate victory for coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic’s side in the tournament for locally-based players.
Frank Kalanda gave the hosts the lead after just six minutes before Amri Kiemba equalized 10 minutes later from a well taken Mrisho Ngasa cross.
Brian Majwega made it 2-1 for the Cranes just after half-time from the penalty spot, after defender David Luhende handled in the box.
Kalanda completed the victory on 62 minutes with his second of the match.
“We have worked so hard to make it to the 2014 CHAN event and I want to thank the team for a job well done,” Micho said after the match.
“This will open doors for professional football for many of these players when they play in the competition next year.”
Tanzania’s coach Kim Poulsen said his boys played well in the first half, but struggled after the break.
Uganda also qualified for the last edition of CHAN in Sudan in 2011.
In other qualifiers this weekend Mali are well placed having beaten Guinea 3-1 at home, as are Sudan after forcing a 1-1 draw in Burundi.
But Burkina Faso and 2009 champions Democratic Republic of Congo face tough tasks against Niger and Congo-Brazzaville respectively having built just one-goal home leads.
There are also four first-leg fixtures with Cameroon belatedly hosting Gabon after the lifting this week of a Fifa ban on the country for state interference.
Southern region fixtures between Botswana and Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia and Mauritius and Zimbabwe complete the 11-match schedule.
Source: BBC