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Camus in, Benalouane out

December 26th, 2008 | By: Rami | 40 Comments »

In the never-ending pursuit to reinforce our national team with quality players before our world cup qualifying gets underway versus Kenya in March, Humberto Coelho and his assistant Habib Mejri have been hard at work scouting players from the domestic league as well as other foreign borns playing abroad.

The latest quest took Habib Mejri to Belgium where he observed the Charleroi midfielder, Fabien Bechir Camus, and came away impressed with the technical abilities of the Marseille product. Whats more is that Camus has since given his accord to represent Tunisia at international level. The administrative formalities to get him a Tunisian passport are well underway.

On the other hand, our coach ended up canceling his trip to France to scout St. Etienne defender Yohan Benalouane, having judged that the player was not sufficiently enthusiastic about joining the Carthage Eagles. I don’t know much about this player but I heard from Massaer at the Marseille offside and Senegal WCB (who watches much more Ligue 1 than me) that he was tall, quick, and had already represented (and scored) for France at Junior level. What’s confusing about this is that weeks ago it was reported that he expressed interest in joining our ranks. I guess he had a change of heart… Whatever the case, I like that Coelho gauged his desire instead of just begging him to choose us. If someone doesn’t feel in their heart that they should represent us then there’s no use in us wasting our time.

In Other News

International left back Yassine Mikari is said to interest Sochaux in the winter transfer window. I’d love to see him leave the Axpo league in Switzerland and raise his level. He’s got offensive skills but he could definitely improve his defending by playing in the French league instead.

Tags: Fabien Bechir Camus, Fabien Camus, Group H, Habib Mejri, Humberto Coelho, Tunisian Football, Yassine Mikari, Yohan Benalouane

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 40 comments.

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By Abdullah | January 2nd, 2009 at 4:01 pm

Rachid i thought it was 0-0 vs raja :O, didnt see that match though.

Posted from Netherlands

By Rachid | January 2nd, 2009 at 6:42 pm

Abdullah, it was 0-0 in Sfax, but 0-1 in Casablanca. So, CSS qualified for the quarter finals of the ACL championship. There are 3 Tunisian teams out of the 8 qualified: CSS, EST, and USMo. BTW, Hichem Essifi scored a couple of goals in their last game in this tournamnet against an Iraqi team. They were two beatiful goals, but unfortunately, I have not been able to find the videos to share.

By Achraf | January 2nd, 2009 at 8:42 pm

its official, mikari will now be playing for L1 Sochaux.

By Achraf | January 3rd, 2009 at 6:10 pm

ben saada and namouchi scored today in the coupe de france.

By Abdullah | January 6th, 2009 at 5:15 pm

Also Wissam ben Yahia is being tracked by dortmund, and ifa has awoken the interrest of olypmique marseille & Toulouse

AND

Khaled souissi is also beeing watched by Toulouse

Posted from Netherlands

By Rami | January 7th, 2009 at 2:04 am

Yep. OM’s interest in Ifa dates back to before he even signed his pro contract with Club Africain. Rumor has it, he got on mosaique right after he signed and said he actually was on his way to the airport with his father to go do a test in Marseille when the CA ownership called him and told him his contract was ready. Thankfully for us he decided it was good enough to stay. Now when he gets transferred CA will get a slice instead of just forming him and losing him without getting anything in return. Ben Yahia was transparent against Etoile (I made the game by the way, more on that later). He’ll need a much improved performance to impress the Dortmund scouts (who have been eyeing him for a while too).

Posted from United States

By Ala | January 7th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

Yalll just gay hater esperence rocks. ramis a bitch who thinks he can speak english. go suck some cock!

By thamer | January 7th, 2009 at 9:05 pm

…who are you

Posted from United States

By Abdullah | January 7th, 2009 at 9:53 pm

an angry kid :p

Posted from Netherlands

By shleka | January 8th, 2009 at 9:02 am

this is for Ala: yatik belela fi sormik whahaha it rhymezzzz

Posted from United States

By Achraf | January 8th, 2009 at 10:11 am

Rami is there anyway you can block that person?

Posted from United States

By Fahd | January 8th, 2009 at 10:13 am

Ya NASSSS,

WHO GIVES A F%*K about FOOTBALL at this moment

GAZA GAZA GAZA GAZA GAZA ALLAH MA3AAK AS NO ONE IN THE WORLD CARES ANY MORE!!

GAZA NEEDS HELP and SUPPORT THE LEAST WE CAN DO IS GIVE THIS TOPIC ALL THE ATTENTION IT NEEDS even in these kind of BlOGS!!

ISRAEL is a TERRORIST FASCIST RACIST OCCUPIER, but this will not last for always!!!!

RAMI PLEASE CLOSE THE BLOG AND PUT A PICTURE OF GAZA IN RESPECT FOR OUR BROTHERS!!!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE

By Rami | January 8th, 2009 at 12:37 pm

Fahd, I respect your opinion but I disagree. I’m showing support for Gaza on Facebook and in social situation by discussing the issue amongst my friends here in the states and abroad. Planning on going to demonstrations here in Washington DC and fundraisers as well (donating my own money and trying to get others as well- talk is talk but these people need monetary help to get the dire humanitarian situation under control) but with all due respect (and I have a lot of it for you and for our Palestinian brothers) a football blog is not the place for this kind of discussion. I won’t block you comments of support as long as they are not racist. I even said myself in my new years message that my heart was with them. But we’re going to keep the articles football related for reasons I’ve already cited in the past. This is not a political blog even though football can definitely be political. If I made a claim that I was closing the blog it could be handed over to someone else and I don’t want that to happen. Feel free to drop what you want in comments and please try to understand my point of view. Gaza 3ala bali…

Achraf, it’s some guy with a Qatari IP address who has nothing better to do. I’m not even gratifying his foolishness with a response. I do have the ability to block him though…

Posted from United States

By thamer | January 8th, 2009 at 6:05 pm

in other news, esperance’s new midfield will consist of korbi,darragi,and baghouli…honestly, how sick is that?

Posted from United States

By Abdullah | January 8th, 2009 at 6:21 pm

even more good news Feyenoord is interrested in Chikhaoui, http://www.4-4-2.com/displaynews/date/2009/01/07/chikhaoui-weiter-heiss-umworben.html

They could really use him since they are not doing so well right now, i think it could be a good move(and i would be able to watch him in the eredivisie) although i’d rather see him play in Germany or England.

Posted from Netherlands

By Rami | January 8th, 2009 at 6:35 pm

Thamer, congratulations on the signings. Very nice indeed (I’m jealous). Although apparently CA ruled out Baghouli because he said on Hannibal TV that he wanted to play for Etoile and “no one else.” Funny that he ends up at Esperance then… I think he said it because at that point in time he only thought Etoile could match CAB’s price. Plus I think the CA directors used it as en excuse not to spend a lot of money on the kid (for as many fans as CA has, its treasury is dwarfed by that of Etoile and Esperance). Korbi has a future as well… and you already know how much I admire Darragi.

Bad news for the NT as Iffa reinjured his knee today against FAR in the first leg of the North African Champions Cup Final in Rades. Game ended 0-0 and CA will be without him, Ouertani, and maybe even Tchalla. Otorogo can’t come soon enough… Although I’m not sure he can play in the return leg…

Abdullah, I just want to see him start getting games. Doesn’t matter where its at because the national team just need him to have his legs under him by March. If we want to get picky then I agree with you. Although I don’t think England is the ideal place right now. Germany or Spain seem better suited to his game. Unless he ends up at Arsenal or smthn (Arsene is a fan, so is Mourinho – but that was a while ago when he was dominating the Swiss league seemingly at will).

Posted from United States

By thamer | January 8th, 2009 at 7:18 pm

thanks rami. thats too bad about ifa, but hes only 18, he’ll recover quickly im sure, and we always have boussaidi on the right. I agree that Chikhaoui just needs to start playing again, he shouldnt be worrying about transfers becuse with his talent, a transfer is inevitable, but first, he needs to show clubs that he is healthy. also, Ben khalfallah is causing a lot of buzz in france. he created both goals last week inthe cup match against nantes and a lot of articles are being published about how in form he is right now, so hopefulyl we’ll see him transfer to a bteer league sometime soon.

and to top it off, something all of us tunisians already knew

Tunis, January 8, 2009- Tunisia’s football league has been rated as Africa’s strongest by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) at the end of 2008.

The body also ranks Tunisia 26 th in the world. The ranking is based on the results of 12 months of national, continental and intercontinental competitions, including the national cup.

Egypt is the second strongest national championship and Cameroon comes third followed by Nigeria and South Africa.

Posted from United States

By Rachid | January 8th, 2009 at 8:01 pm

Hope Tamim of Egypt takes a note of those rankings! Kidding aside, I totally support the idea of leaving this space for football matters and nothing else. Rami, that Etoile-CA game must have been a real thriller for you! I was ecstatic until the 92nd minute. You can always count on some good football and tough competition whenever those two teams play each other! I thought the Etoile coach made some bad substitutions and ended up losing 2 points. ABC summed it best when he said “when you see death, a fever is not so bad.” He always knows what to say and I think that has helped him very well so far. Anyway, it’s not over yet and hopefully that means we’ll have some very competitive games ahead. Baghouli was ready to sign for l’Etoile, but CA decided to spoil the deal, then realized that was too much $$ to spend on him (which is a wise decision, I think), so Esperance emerged as the big spender. Good luck!

By Achraf | January 8th, 2009 at 8:31 pm

Rami, I agree with you but I actually think that Baghouli wanted to go to Etoile instead of CA because Club always holds on to their players and never sell them like ourtani and sellami for an example but ESS is always just uses the players for a couple year then sell them to an outside league in Europe. ESS sold Chermiti, Chikhaoui, Traoui, Ghzal, and 2 others who i forgot their names. I am hoping Chikhaoui will be back for the end of march world cup qualifications against kenya (Obamas country).

Posted from United States

By Fahd | January 9th, 2009 at 5:23 am

Salaam Rami,

I respect your oppinion as well. Point is acknowledged!

regards,

By Fahd | January 9th, 2009 at 9:30 am

http://egypt.worldcupblog.org/uncategorized/potd-in-support-of-the-cause.html

I am glad that the footballers do think it is important to use Football for these kind of Matters.

KANOUTE RAJEL GIER MIN EL3RAB EL KOL ( Long Live real Madrid)

By Tamim | January 9th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

congratulations for the ranking:)

By Rachid | January 11th, 2009 at 1:41 pm

A great song in support of our brothers in PALESTINE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfhoU66s4Y

By Fahd | January 12th, 2009 at 5:36 am

Ola Rachid,

Thanks for the link allah yisabbirhom!!

For our dutch friend here is a link as well:

http://www.ditpikkenwijniet.nl The song is powerfull!!

By Rami | January 12th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

Thanks for the song Rachid. Very moving! And yes, the game was really fun to attend. Incredibly stressful as you can imagine but the stadium erupted in the 92nd and I freaked out along with everyone else. Fun game. Here’s a picture of me in attendance: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37216210&l=154ff&id=5306143

Fahd, thanks for understanding my friend.

Thamer, awesome find on the rankings!

Tamim, thanks for being a good sport!

Achraf, I see your argument. ESS definitely has a better history of leading their talent to new pastures and bigger contracts!

Posted from United States

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