Ethiopia vs Sierra Leone Prediction: A strong start expected from both camp

Wednesday marks the beginning of the World Cup qualifiers for Group A when Ethiopia and Sierra Leone square off against one another at the Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium. Both teams will enter the first match of the group with the goal of getting off to a winning start in their bid to compete in the World Cup in 2026, after having had qualification campaigns for the Africa Cup of Nations that were largely forgettable. 

Ethiopia's 2023 African Cup of Nations qualification campaign came to a disappointing end with a 1-0 loss to Egypt. At the 30 June Stadium, it was Pharaohs winger Mostafa Fathy of Pyramids FC who stole the show by scoring the game's lone goal in the 37th minute to give his team all three points. Prior to that, on August 3, Shimelis Bekele scored twice to lead Ethiopia to a 2-0 victory over Guyana in a friendly. This result ended Ethiopia's winless streak of six games across all competitions. However, the Wali Ibex ended their run in the AFCON qualifiers without a win in any of their last four matches as a result of their loss to Egypt in September. As a result of this run, they finished dead last in Group D with only four points after competing in six matches. Since their surprising 2-0 triumph over Egypt on June 9, the men led by Gebremedhin Haile have now gone seven straight games without a win in competitive play, suffering five defeats and picking up two draws along the way. Ethiopia, who are presently ranked 143rd in the FIFA World Rankings as of the most recent update, will try to leave their poor performance in the AFCON qualifications in the past as they begin their quest to become the first African nation to compete in the FIFA World Cup. The East Africans came the closest to winning the tournament in 2014, when they finished as the leaders of Group A with 13 points from six matches. However, their ambitions were shattered at the final hurdle when they suffered a setback at the hands of Nigeria in the playoffs by an aggregate score of 4-1.

Sierra Leone got back to winning ways in their most recent match by defeating Somalia 2-0 in a friendly match that took place on October 14 at the Stade Municipal de Berrechid. In order to force a draw and split the points, Angers defender Cedric Hountondji scored in the ninth minute of stoppage time after a player from Denmark named Mohamed Buya Turay had opened the scoring against Benin. Only five points were earned by Sierra Leone, and the country finished in third place in Group A, eight points behind the runners-up, Guinea-Bissau. Only one of the six matches that John Keister's team played in order to try and earn a spot in Ivory Coast was won by them; it was a 2-0 triumph over rank-outsiders Sao Tome and Principe on March 26. The other five matches were either drawn or ended in losses for the team. Sierra Leone will be competing in their first World Cup group stage since 2013, when they finished in third place in Group B. In the World Cup qualifications for 2015 and 2019, Sierra Leone were eliminated in the playoffs by Chad and Liberia, respectively.

Ethiopia and Sierra Leone will go into their match on Wednesday looking for a win that will improve their confidence after both teams struggled throughout their qualifying campaigns for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON). We expect Keister's team to struggle on the road at the Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium because they have dropped four of their most recent five matches away from home across all competitions.