Addis Ababa — Ethiopia will play Egypt in the third-place play-off match for the bronze medal at the Under-20 Nations Cup finals on Sunday at the Addis Ababa stadium. The match was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was pushed to the next day by CAF, so it will be played just over two hours before the final between Ghana and Angola at the same venue.

Egypt and Ethiopia have already clashed once in the competition in a group A encounter, with the two sides drawing 2-2 on an eventful day of the tournament when Ethiopia came from behind and missed a last minute penalty. There was a 25 minute hold up due to floodlight failure and an Egyptian player was banned for a year for spitting at the referee. There was also a pitch invasion when fans jumped the fence to chase the Egyptians into their dressing room in reaction to obscene gestures from the North Africans.

Egyptian coach, Shawky Gharib has pleaded with the Ethiopian fans to watch football tomorrow, saying the young Pharaohs are not in Addis Ababa to fight a war.

Ethiopians fans chased the Egyptian squad for the second time during the match between the North Africans and Cameroon. The host crowd thought the two teams, who were leading with four points, each were playing to a draw and get a result which would have eliminated Ethiopia from the semi-finals.

Ethiopia ran out of steam in the semi-finals by losing 5-2 to Angola. After qualifying for the World Cup finals, Ethiopia seemed satisfied with the achievement and it is likely that the hosts will not be able to put up a better performance against their group opponents.

Ethiopia and Egypt have a long history of rivalry, since the start of the senior Nations Cup in Khartoum 44 years ago. The two countries are also among the founders of CAF.

Since there is a bronze medal to play for, the teams are expected to dress up their main squad for the clash. Egypt might field Belgium-based midfielder, Ahmed Hossam, who missed the semi-final against Ghana through injury. Ethiopia, meanwhile, have serious goalkeeping problems to worry about.