🪸MATUMAINI / 5
🇪🇹 Dawit Kassaw 🇹🇿 Saadam Hussein Hamis
Concluding the series with 🇪🇹 Dawit Kassaw and 🇹🇿 Sadam Hussein Hamis
Two players who caught my attention by how explosive they are on short distances
Not having a huge change of gear requires some extreme intelligence to maximise the movement to make sure to keep space in front, and time the release.
Turns out both players are quite smart already to find the space between opponents before receiving, which broadens the opportunities they can afford to take into space.
I initially wanted to post a few notes on Chausson Nhabanga from Mozambique, but I might as well include him anyway or do an extra set of notes.
Ethiopia’s population is 120 million, that’s twice the population of France, Germany or even Tanzania. The East African talent pool is definitely out there.
There’s 200 million inhabitants between Tanzania and Ethiopia.
It makes sense that they can identify absolute dragsters on wheels who can change the picture off their first touch
🇪🇹 ዳዊት ካሳው
The script is Ge’ez (Amharic uses the Ge’ez script, also called Ethiopic) — it’s the writing system used for Amharic, Tigrinya, and several other Ethiopian and Eritrean languages.
The language of the text “ዳዊት ካሳው” is Amharic, Ethiopia’s official working language.
Each character in Ge’ez script represents a consonant-vowel syllable (it’s an abugida, not an alphabet in the strict sense) —
so ዳ = “da”, ዊ = “wi”, ት = “t”,
ካ = “ka”, ሳ = “sa”, ው = “w”,
spelling out “Da-wi-t Ka-sa-w” = Dawit Kassaw.
Fairly explosive on the first few yards. Plays Ethiopian first division already
Wenger talked about the ecosystem ; many countries don’t have Federation organised youth leagues. Clubs fast track players in the first team.
From a National Team stantpoint, Ethiopia U17s qualified for the finals of the CAF U17 for the first time in 22 years ; which appears as an anomaly for the 10th biggest country on earth. Led by Benjamin Zimmer
Photos : Tikvah Images
They finished on top of the Group A of the CECAFA Regional qualifiers
with Dawit Kassaw scoring seven of his team’s 10 goals.
The second goal vs South Sudan is filed into the “are you mad” folder
Kassaw scored the only goal between Kenya and Ethiopia in the last game of the group
Yes I want
Clean first touch
To leather the ball in across goal, a goalscorer is a goalscorer, this one is filed into “things you love to see”
What in the Jermaine Defoe am I watching
and saw out Kenya (3-0) in the third place play-offs.
Where Kassaw obviously opened the scoring, with the most timeless / universal long ball over the top between centre backs and goalkeeper for the fast guy
If you even want the full game :
To qualify for the CAF U17
ዳዊት ካሳው was named top scorer of the CECAFA Qualifier with seven, ahead of Tanzania’s Luqman Mbalasalu who scored a sixtuplé against Djibouti (a hat trick in each half, wonder if he kept two matchballs)
Wikipedia has a full lowdown on the CECAFA Qualifiers
Tanzania and Uganda played the final, won 3-2 by Tanzania.
Kassaw kicked ball for 3Points, a private German funded program working with the CAF and Ethiopian Football Federation
Where he won the U19 League, somewhat called “2017” so maybe it’s a time capsule.
As for senior football, Kassaw already plays senior football for Sheger Ketema.
The Addis-Adeba club signed three Ethiopia U17 stars in December 2025, as reported by The Ethiopian Reporter in what is described as a landmark move
In the league, he has 900 minutes and 2 goals
One of them
Making sure he’d fluke / flick the ball over the… Ethiopian Insurance goalkeeper
Earlier this season, Kassaw scored a really good goal lashing out a volley off his left foot
At the AFCON U17 Finals,
Ethiopia’s games were hardly the most thrilling.
It took a last minute winner vs Tunisia to get their only win of the competition.
Starter (the one who triggers the set piece taker) peeling off the pack to volley the rebound at the penalty spot is one of my favourite corner moves. That one was blocked off the line
There’s enough flashes I liked : the ones I like.
The absolute speed on a few yards, that can always make differences.
He’s actually on wheels
That touch in his stride
You’re actively looking for players who can create a yard of space, he’s not prime Kun Agüero but that’s quite the turn of pace
I often mention the overlap between quick forwards and those who move well in the box, these are often exclusive behavioral traits : quick forwards wait for a long ball over the top (Fernando Torres), slower ones have to work to deceive and find openings (Pippo Inzaghi) from lateral service on crosses
Blind side, around the penalty spot
That’s actually a difficult finish, with a full hip rotation to get a clean connection with the instep
Whilst the support foot leaves the ground, to allow a wider radius of rotation (not possible if the foot stays planted)
The other thing I saw with Kassaw is that he was often working hard on midfielders, dropping off the front and making decoy runs.
Look at that “big bridge”, to go around the defender
Also, got to command the right reading of the attacking situation ; overlap the carrier to create a problem, then play the free man. Not much in the tank at the end of the first half to test the goalkeeper.
🇹🇿 Saadam Hussein Hamis
A bundle of energy on the wing, with some nice bursts off the dribble to get away from pressure. Left footed, with good movement before receiving. Everything I like.
Hamis was part of the team ho won the CAF African School Football Championship in 2025 - on penalties, against… Senegal.
Tanzania also won the 2024 edition the year before.
Conditions were biblical
But good players will still play ball
A feat all the more impressive that he changed shoes at half time. A second pair of metal studs probably, I can’t imagine he possibly started with artificial studs but hey he didn’t slip. Replaced halfway the 2x20’ second half.
Born in 10/11/2011, he’s registered with Tanzania Football Federation’s Talent Development Squad, the program stemming from Wenger’s FIFA Talent Development Scheme mentioned all across the MATUMAINI series.
In the U17 Championship League, second from the left in the TDS U15 squad, look who’s 80 for Mbeya City 👀
Here, the Talent Development Squad featuring Hamis (#45) was the support team for the CAF C Diploma Course at the Tanga Tecnhical Centre
“The TDS (Youth Talent Development Programme) U15 team has continued with a training programme supervised by some coaches participating in the CAF C Diploma course, ongoing at the Technical Centre Field, TFF, Mnyanjani, Tanga.”
We can’t see Hamis here, but the swahili caption reads
"TFF Technical Director Oscar Mirambo today participated in training sessions for the Talent Development Scheme (TDS) U15 and U17 teams, who are preparing for various competitions, at the TFF Technical Centre pitch in Mnyanjani, Tanga."
We see Chole here on the fourth pic, which suggests the program mirrors what is done elsewhere : the federation screens players, regardless of their affiliation in clubs
I’m biased towards left footed attackers who can move and understand the game. This one can play on the right, which I believe is an aspect worth discussing.
Player development on the timeline towards efficiency dictates that players must play where they’ll be effective : there’s nothing wrong playing left footers on the left to put crosses in since that’s where they’ll likely play when they reach a good enough level.
“Inverted to cut inside” - positions don’t make skillsets, unless you show an ability to move before receiving (by changing direction at least once whilst doing so), secure your first touch under pressure and get output with a pass or shot.
I’ve seen Hamis do it enough time to see it’s not a fluke : anyone drawn into traffic wearing crocs will likely not do it twice, since these national competitions don’t afford the opportunity to win it back thanks to a turnover. There’ll likely be a counter to defend and organic feedback out of it.
Tanzania won the fair play award, that’s how unbothered with systematical tactical fouling they were.
With a sharp change of direction to make the needle pass possible from Mbegu
That’s the position that causes a problem to the fullback (do I track him), the CM (do drift wide) and CB (do I follow the man between the lines)
That immediate second touch sets him up to attack the box diagonally
and a well weighted diagonal pass clipping his ankle (the toes end up facing forwards)
Tanzania’s football has been refreshing, no time to ponder or calculate : just run in opponen’ts face, play the ball wide and combine out of it. If it’s locked, move the ball quickly on the other side with Chole in midfield
Here, there’s a double jump from fullback to then CB on trigger that is the set up pass
Snatching the ball leaving the defender in his mirror : the excitement doesn’t get him to kick the ball out of bounds.
With another front foot pass, an effective way to connect and play the ball across without tangling the legs or overhit the pass (with the right).
That’s old school wide play you saw a lot in the 1970s to 1990s
There’s other good players I wanted to mention too, but kind of decided against , not because they’re not good, they are. But because I feel more confident the ones I shortlisted would scale up.
Nevertheless, the left footed CB and Captain Kassim Selemani Juma (3) played some really nice line breakers (oversaw in other MATUMAINI episodes). Upfront, Luqman Ally Mbalasalu (10) was the second top scorer in qualifiers (after Kassaw) and showed an ability to move across the front and play / retain under pressure
Luqman retaining under pressure,
And a reverse pass / line breaker from Chole to find Hamis with a double movement to receive inside
That’s a solid first touch, the first truther to see if anyone’s got any business receving the ball inside
Changing the affordance picture by “freezing frame” whilst moving : by hopping on his right leg to keep the same angle of attack, but changing the location whilst being able to decide where to chop the ball
Chopping when the defender dives in
Keeping it in control with another chop
That’s serious baller stuff.
Hamis scored the third goal on a direct free kick
Location of support foot, arms for balance
Bend the ball like Beckham would do
The right opening of the ankle, with the toes going downwards to get a clean connection with the laces and the top of the foot
The “plantarflexion” mentioned here :
Good footballers find each other, position talk is loser talk. Dembele will impact games anywhere across the front
Hamis peeling off his marker to receive
But stays on toes
So that when the ball is moving he’s already opening the gate
So that his support foot lands facing forward and he can flick the ball around the corner first time
A few moments later, he’s rushing a bit, support foot a bit far away from the ball, not really poiting where he wants to shoot :
Ankle is too lose trying to contorsion given how his support foot is set and the ball flies over.
I like that bit, bad players play feet in cement ; good players stay on toes because they can jump and sort their feet.
Mohamed Ali Cho and Dilane Bakwa are two of the most electric wingers I coached against (none won against my side let alone score let alone get a shot on target). I couldn’t believe how fast they’d change direction whilst keeping their balance, and you end up figuring out that their support foot gives the next indication - because it’s not set in fresh concrete.
Look at Hamis’ right foot
Hop back
Drag, see you later
What do you think you can do with that picture? Outside the boot, why not
There’s been some valuable moments to set himself up to shoot : as you’re looking at ball mastery, deception but also and mostly how quickly players shift and shoot.
Hamis was named Man of the Match vs Angola
Hamis also assisted a goal vs Mozambique
Luqman nutmeg on Pelembe, shirt tucked in
Either way what Hamis is doing is smart : per design (see Kassaw earler, peeling off the pack to attack the rebound on the penalty spot) or adaptation
Staying outside the box to pick up the second ball
And then dishing out a perfect cross clipped at the far post
Clip your ankle :
in the qualifiers, Hamis scored a hat trick vs neighbouring Burundi
Some really quick feet to shift and shoot
Atrocious balance but also he’s 14 so that was always gonna end up in the roof of the net
Worth clowning the camera
His third goal is wrapped in the bottom corner with a bounce before the goalkeeper
