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Advantage CA

May 18th, 2008 | By: Rami | 9 Comments »

Club Africain took a monumental step towards the league title in Jendouba today with a 3-2 win over Gafsa. The result coincided with the surprising goalless draw between Etoile and Gabes and means that CA leapfrog Bertrand Marchand’s team to claim first place with just one match left to play in the season.

They currently stand 2 points above the defending champions and will aim to seal the deal on Thursday at their home stadium versus the already relegated Zarzis. Etoile will attempt to beat the resurgent Esperance and hope for a miracle in Tunis. There’s a full 90 minutes left to play so nothing is set in stone but the smart money will be on CA to lift the title that’s been a long time coming. On a personal level I am overjoyed but I will hold off on the celebrations. Plus this isn’t a CA blog so I’ll try to keep things discreet!

More details to follow when match highlights become available. Some crazy stuff happened in that Etoile game. Amine Chermiti got spat on and slapped in the face by a Gabes player who had already received a red card!

Tags: CA, Club Africain, ESS, Etoile Sportive du Sahel, Group H

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Comments

By Tahar | May 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

HAMDULLAH YA RABBI!

hard work pays off… its been a long time coming!

Posted from United States

By Yassine | May 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

Congratulations! You deserve it. L’Etoile didn’t because we couldn’t win the crucial matches in the ed of the season.

By Rachid | May 18th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

Everything has been done to deny l’Etoile success! I think it’s been sickening the way rules have been changed over time including playing today’s game between Gafsa and CA in Beja. What are the criteria for selecting Beja? Isn’t it closer to Tunis than Gafsa? Why not Kasserine, where a week earlier Zarzis had to play Gafsa for the Cup? I congratulate CA, but I have to point out the unfair treatment of l’Etoile and the backward attitudes of our FTF officials who are acting as if the game of football had just been invented!!! It’s quite ridiculous, even more so than watching Abderrahman El-Ich running across the field trying to interview some people after the game!!!

By thamer | May 18th, 2008 at 5:56 pm

anyone know why zaiem didn’t play today?

Posted from United States

By Skander | May 19th, 2008 at 12:10 am

Does this mean the etoile is not going to the champions league next year?

Posted from Australia

By Skander | May 19th, 2008 at 12:14 am

The previous post says I’m in Austrlia, but I’m in Japan. Somebody should check the software being used

Posted from Australia

By fahd | May 19th, 2008 at 3:55 am

Rami,

Firts I want to congratulate your team with this win and possibly the title. As an elnejm fan I am very dissapointed, but the fact is Elnejm is not able to win the crucial mathes lately. This I find very strange because it brings us back to previous seasons whre Elnejm lost the championship due to the same reason. I can not understand why the players are not motivated at all and do not have the thrive to win everything. If you want to be one of the biggest clubs you need to consistent.

All that complaining and bullshitting about the FTF and where CA is playing an not is so childish!!! In addition they are crying about playing a lot of matches atc, this also bull Alahly had to play also 60 matches in a season but they are always able to win the crucial matches.

Elnejm has to regain it’s strength and be more professional if you want to be a champion you need to act like a champion whether loosing or winning. In addition Elnejm needs to have a Trainer that stays with the club at Least 3 years in a row. This also creates stability. We had over a period of 4years 7 coaches which is not showing Stability at all!!! Al Ahly is for me the best example how to maintain success as they are implementing almost the same strategy as Manchester.

Elmouhim Mabrouk Lilifriki and Hop ethat Both teams will impress next year in the Arfican Champions League.

Fahd

By Rami | May 19th, 2008 at 7:10 am

Rachid, at first they wanted to play the CA match in Sfax but the “baladia” refused because there’s too much training going on there and there’s some kind of problem with the field itself (i know that’s not very specific but they talked about it on mosaique). Kasserine was the next option and I don’t know why they didn’t play there. Think about it though, the tickets were 15 dinars (down from 100, then 50, then 30, then 20 and then well you know) and the entire number of them weren’t even available to fans willing to pay that fee. Lots didn’t even get in. They stopped the season for a month or something so that Etoile could prepare properly to do well at the Club World Cup so it’s a two way street. I can’t claim to know everything that goes on behind the scenes though…

Thamer, Pretty sure Zaiem didn’t play because Cabral fielded a second choice team. Maybe he’s resting players for Etoile Classico and the Cup matches. Plus Zaiem just got engaged last week or smthn so he may be busy!

Skander, as Fahd pointed out both teams will be in the Champions League next year. As for the software your guess is as good as mine, hehe.

Fahd, I couldn’t agree with you more. Etoile suffered because of a bad second half of the season. Fatigue is one thing but a team like Etoile that reaches the Club World Cup must raise it’s standards. It’s always harder to repeat because you have a target on your back. Already the fact that they came so close is impressive. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, there’s 90 minutes to go.

Thanks for all the sportsmanship!

By basketsim | May 19th, 2008 at 9:06 am

Join the new tunisian league at http://www.basketsim.com

… welcome!

Badis

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