As MOMO mentioned it si questionable why the Capital Clubs are not performing in Africa as you would expect being the ones that won both local prices?? Does this have to do with the Tunisian fixed league or what?? As We all know the last 14 Years both Elnejm and Sfax conquered the African and Arab competition. This is not Luck but Hard work on Club level without interference of FTF.

We could also see that FTF never had respect or supported both teams when they cam back from these competitions and asked for extra free time. Despite the fact that bring Tunisia on the MAP!!!

Anyway let’s hope that the next season will be more sportive and that only the best may win the league.

Achraf, I am also worried about CA but one thing I was meaning to add in the article is that Djoliba is in mid season form right now because their season is still going (20 matches in). They are the league leaders in their country and have been setting a strong pace there. It shows why they looked physically and mentally more prepared than us yesterday. We have to wake up and do it quickly if we are to qualify for the group stages. As Rachid said it’s not impossible but it will be difficult.

Your questions are really good ones and ones I’ve been wondering about for a while. It’s not an exact science but I’m guessing he’ll announce the roster about a week and half before the match itself. Haggui is supposed to be recovering just fine. He did the surgery so early because he wanted to be ready for Leverkusen’s preseason training which is either underway or about to start. I expect him to be ready. With Chikhaoui it’s wait and see. The latest estimates are four to six more weeks of rehab which means he’s unlikely to make it into the August 20 match against Angola but leaves the door open for the Burkina Faso game. It depends on whether Coelho would want to take a chance on him even if he didn’t play in the Angola match. Then again, you never know because some players heal better than others. The best way to get more info is to keep tabs on whether or not they’re playing with their clubs. If they each start getting playing time as the match approaches the likelhood increases. So no concrete answer but more hopeful about Haggui than Chikhaoui.

Rachid, I see what you’re saying about the African players. We have Alexis Mendomo who seems to be our most prominent one. The other ones haven’t lived up to expectations unfortunately. EST has Eneramo, Janvier, and I’m expecting Bienvenue to start performing better soon (he was so good with CAB). Plus they got that kid Konan who they say will turn out to be great. We’ll see about that. CSS has had a good history of Africans too and ESS is no different. Probably the most impressive in recent memory is Kader Keita.

Abdullah, it wasn’t fun to watch that game and I’m hoping things improve.

Momo:

1. I fail to understand how Kasraoui is an Esperance keeper myself. After having someone as good as Chokri for so long you would think they would hold people to higher standards. I don’t want to bad mouth him too much but he’s a 3awam, always swimming outside of his area at the wrong moments.

2. It’s a question but I guess it stays one because we can’t really answer it definitively. I think it stems from the team mindset and experience. Etoile has been excelling in African competitions for a very long time now and CSS is still coming off that year where they very nearly took the Champions League. EST is full of youngsters and Club Africain hasn’t been in these things for a while.

3. I get your point here. It is very important not to stifle creativity at a young age because and focus exclusively on results. However, I think that applies to younger age groups. At 19 I think that focusing a little on results is important because you want these kids to learn not just how to play well but also how to play smart and win. It’s a balancing act for sure though. I’m just disappointed because qualifying for African competitions and playing top opponents is a great way for these kids to test their skills and improve. Same thing goes for the Olympics that we missed out on. Yet on the other hand, they are young and it’s definitely not the end of the world. I have high hopes for them.

1) Kasraoui is not worth Esperance or the National Team. He is simply a mediocre keeper that sould be playing for a mid-table team. I’d rather have Moez Ben Thabet in the National team along with Balbouli.

2) It seems that Etoile and CS Sfax remain loyal to their tradition of excelling on the continental level. It is a bit questionable why Esperance and Club Africain do well when playing in Tunisia? Is there a third party involved in here? is it because they’re the most popular teams in Tunisia or what? just questionning..

3) The U-19 team is a victim of the media. They over reacted to their spell at the World Cup, and now the standards are set very high. As far as I am concerned, it is not a problem that they lost. After all this the time for them to fall and stumble and get up again to learn from their own mistakes. We should not allow them becoming result-oriented and lose their youthful passion to the game. Their time will come when they become men and then we can fairly criticize them..but for know keep working hard boys and good luck.

I really hope i won’t have too see a lot of these kind of games again.