Ethiopia's trip to the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa was their first in over 31 years.
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While they did not manage to secure a win in a difficult group, drawing with holders Zambia and provided against Burkina Faso and Nigeria, they have provided hope to the future footballing prospects of their country.
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'' As a beginner in this tournament, I think we can give hope, a bright future for our guys, hope for the country. Anything is possible and we can (bring) the coming generation (with us) by giving them hope '', said Captain Debebe Degy after their 2-0 loss to Nigeria in Rustenburg.
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'' We have seen through this game how much we can work and do something and now that you have seen the game, we tried to dominate the game '' he added.
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'' We worked hard and we knew these guys are professionals and have lot of experience compared to us because they play abroad in big tournaments ''.
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'' We will learn a lot from this one. It's a learning time for us because our objective was at least to be in the quaterfinal as much as possible but we knew what we had before us '', he said.