World

Africa

Tunisia

Carthage Eagles Land in Group B of CAF WC Qualifying

October 22nd, 2008 | By: Rami | 49 Comments »

We are set to face Nigeria, Kenya, and Mozambique in the third and final round of CAF World Cup qualifying. I checked out the draw this morning and when you consider group 1 (Cameroon, Morocco, Togo, Gabon) and group 5 (Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Malawi), you have to say that we came out of this with a manageable group.

Facing Nigeria will not be easy but I’m sure they will be taking us seriously on their side as well. We’ll be looking for revenge after they knocked us out on penalties in Egypt 2006. They took silver in the Olympics but this should not be a real barometer of WC qualifying success because the composition of the team will be different and the games will not be played on neutral grounds.

I actually find that having Kenya in our team is a lucky charm of sorts since they were in it last time around when we knocked out Morocco and ended up going to Germany in the process. After making things overly complicated for ourselves in the previous round, we know that everyone deserves respect so we won’t be counting our points before we earn them. Kenya can be especially difficult to play in Nairobi.

Meanwhile, Mozambique is an unknown quantity to me but if they made it out of the previous round then it will surely not be a cakewalk. They held Cote d’Ivoire in Maputo to 1-1 draw so we are forewarned. The key will be not to underestimate anyone and to just play our brand of football. If you consider the group we’re slowly forming and the players that are likely to be added in the future (Chikhaoui, Chermiti, Namouchi, Allagui, Khedira, Nafti, Camus and others), we’re really not in bad shape at all. However, I’m an eternal optimist so I might be painting too rosy of a picture. If you disagree I’d love to hear why.

Qualifying for the World Cup was never going to be easy but there were definitely teams I wanted to avoid and we did:

1st seeds: Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and Ghana
2nd seeds: Zambia, Burkina Faso, Benin
3rd seeds: Togo, Sudan, Malawi

This doesn’t mean we fear these teams. Fear isn’t the right word. It just means given the choice, I would have picked not to face them. As fate would have it, we won’t have to. Nigeria are most definitely a strong team but to me they have lost their aura of invincibility.

Reactions to the draw

Listen to Karim Haggui, Attouga, and Radhi Jaidi here.

Coach Coelho: “The draw is pretty balanced for all the groups. Ours is within our grasp, I’m certain that our chances will be largely dependent on our own preparation. There’s no need to present Nigeria which is a giant of Africa which won all of its matches in the second round. Let us not forget Mozambique and Kenya who both have to be taken seriously. The first match comes at a good time in the month of march, however the match against Nigeria comes at a bad time for the players because the month of June is difficult with the end of the Championship.”

Assistant Coach Mejri: “The draw is what it is. To qualify we must simply win. First, we must win our first two matches against teams that are relatively within our reach to start with high morale. The small problem is that we will play Nigeria in June and you know the mindset of players who are a little disturbed at this period of the season. It’s good to have avoided the Cameroon and Egypt but Nigeria remains a great football nation. Finally, to qualify we must fight and believe in our chances.”

Calendar

Team name that appears first means it is hosting the match in question.

First fixture: Kenya vs. Tunisia on March 28 or 29

Second Fixture: Tunisia vs. Mozambique on June 6 or 7

Third Fixture: Tunisia vs. Nigeria on June 20 or 21

Fourth Fixture: Nigeria vs. Tunisia on September 5 or 6

Fifth Fixture: Tunisia vs. Kenya on October 10 or 11

Sixth Fixture: Mozambique vs. Tunisia on November 14 or 15

Full Groups

What do you think of the draw? Which one is the group of death? Who will qualify?

Tags: Group B, Group H, Habib Mejri, Humberto Coelho, South Africa 2010, Tunisia World Cup Qualifying

Tunisia World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:Carthage Eagles Land in Group B of CAF WC Qualifying

digg:Carthage Eagles Land in Group B of CAF WC Qualifying

newsvine:Carthage Eagles Land in Group B of CAF WC Qualifying

reddit:Carthage Eagles Land in Group B of CAF WC Qualifying

fark:Carthage Eagles Land in Group B of CAF WC Qualifying

Y!:Carthage Eagles Land in Group B of CAF WC Qualifying

stumbleupon:Carthage Eagles Land in Group B of CAF WC Qualifying

Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 49 comments.

Read the rest of the comments

By Achraf | October 24th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

allah ou wakbar ya Rachid. You said it all. Agree with it

Posted from United States

By Tamim | October 25th, 2008 at 12:49 am

i don’t want to start an argumennt here but i wanted to say egypt played in the eorld cup in 1934 even before there was a football federation in tunisia:D

achraf: why was this “allaho akbar”, we are muslims too u know!!!

all i wanted to say, even if you don’t like it, egypt is the team to beat in this continent and all this talking about tunisia’s superiority is something of the past and the results prove it both on club and international level!!

By Tamim | October 25th, 2008 at 12:51 am

i wanted to say that i am rooting for u guys against nigeria and that i don’t have any bad feelings against tunisian football and rami knows that very well

By Rachid | October 25th, 2008 at 7:51 am

Tamim, this is intended to be as a healthy discussion. It’s not about who’s superior. The numbers say Egyptian and Tunisian clubs are all over Africa, and that keeps both of us on our toes. How did Egypt qualify for the 1934 WC? By invitation? To me counting that is very similar to insisting that the early CAF “tournaments” were legimate. Egyptians miss no opportunity to mention that Egypt won the CAF 6 times. The first one, for example, involved Egypt, Sudan, and Ethyopia. Does that REALLY count? Come on? How about the few subsequent ones? On the club level, if I look at Ahly, for example, I see the same coach and the same group of players for the last several years. That’s a good group, but how come they don’t get to play in Europe. If you look at Etoile, for example, several players went to Europe after last year’s triumph against Ahly and this year the team is essentially a new one. Because of these changes we ended up in the CAF Cup, but we’re still on top of it! The point is that Tunisian clubs are more dynamic. If we kept those same players, I assure you we would dominate for few/several years.

By omar | October 25th, 2008 at 9:24 am

hey rachid the reason a lot of egyptian players dont make it to europe is becuz their clubs hold on to them and overprice them…al-mohammdi (u prbly dont no who he is) shud be goin to blackburn but wont get the chance to becuz he club will act unprofessoiinalyy…do u guys have an equivalent to mohammed zidan,abu trika,ZAKI, mido, EL HADARY..i didnt think so..besides all this talk about ur euro based players is bull and u no it cuz they mostly play in d2 squads, r on the bench on a good d1 team, or start on a d1 team tht is a bout to be relgated!i like how most of ur arguments r “if” based so i wont waste my time arguin against them…and so wht if al ahly is winnin right now ur only making my point (thx)…and if u dont remeber do u no who bibo is? ballon d’or? ring a bell?prbly not since ur so entrencthed in blindin urself with how great tunisa is!? beides i like tunisa’s style, their players, and their fans,I WAS SUPER EXCITED WHEN U GUYS BOOED FRANCE GOOD 4u U! u jsut gtta give egypt its respect even if u think our stay at the top wont last!

By Skander | October 25th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Allagui scored a goal yesterday, 9 goal in 8/9 matches !

Posted from Sweden

By Moni | October 25th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

Its true , Egypt at the moment have a better squad and the willing to win games. Also they have very good players, (Aboutrika en Zidan ) Even that donkey MIDO is a good striker, something that is missing at the tunisian squad , strkers. But also Egypt coach Sheheta , is a very good coach and understands football.

Posted from Netherlands

By Moni | October 25th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

tunisian players a more busy with making photos at training camps , ore make music “reppeur” Jaidi and Modeling storries Chermitti in Berlin ,
And go to disco in France , fuck this fucking nonsense and bullshit, thats why we have bad luck, Forget where we came from …

for example look at : Adel Sellimi ore Badra true proffesional attitude !!
, (Jaidi got crazy in UK .)

Posted from Netherlands

By Fahd | October 25th, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Ya Umm Addounia Omar rana Na7nou Abouha ya Waled :0)

Anyway Omar, I would like to ask you to be supportive of your country at all times, bass ma tbeligchi ya agg.

I am very much a fan of Egyptian winning mentality for sure, but not if they implement takabbor mentality towards their Arab Brothers. This is the reason why you always get fierce competion from the North african teams when they play against you guys ( and usually Egypt looses :0)!!

Tun-Mor Mor-Alg ALG-Tun these are all nice derby’s, no big problems here because they respect each other even if one is much better than the other. While the egyptians are now even joking about Algeria?? Do not underestimate the DESERT fighters

ELmouhim Misr is a great football country, but they did not proof it yet on the world stage. Let’s hope they reach the WC with Tunisia and Morocco.

AS for the euro based players, I fully agree with you concerning the tunisian players, but if you consider the moroccan and Algerian players you can see that they are very much succesfull in europe.

So far Tunisia did not have any player who had a great career apart form the ok career of Zoubair Beya.

As for Egypt we can say you do not have the quantity but surely the quality of players in Europe which I very Much like. It is a pity abou trika did not get the chance to develop himself more and see whether he is able to play on a higher level in Europe.

Tamim I like your blog very much you might want to create an ARAB BLOG with Rami to discuss ARAB football and Unite the ARABS in the world on Football level??

GO GO T.E.A.M –> Tunisia Egypt Algeria Morocoo

By Lazar | October 25th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

tunis lately was sort of “unlucky”. with all of the new players lately, the recent coach change, the injuries, etc. this 3rd and final round of qualifying is going to be different. we’ll get back on our feet and nigeria better watch out, especially cuz they barely beat us in 2006 when we played way better than them in that match. vive la tunisie!!!!! inchalah we make it!

By Achraf | October 25th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

I saw that Skander. Allagui scored his 9th goal in fron of our NT Coach, Coelho, in 9 games. Coelho was also at zurich on wednesday and stopped by to watch ghzal, according to infosfoot. I am really thinking and hoping Coelho will call up Sami allagui to face Benin and I think that, this will be his chance to start that game, due to the injuries at the forward position.

By fahd | October 26th, 2008 at 2:44 am

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=GpX-dXzhh8U

By Achraf | October 26th, 2008 at 8:41 am

nice video fahd. I see that this was the new one. This video shows how much skill and speed he has when scored from the defensive mistake and followed the ball. I am ancious to see the call up list for coelho vs benin. I don’t know if Chikhaoui or Chermiti will be ready. So i would think that allagui would be upfront with jomaa if he is called up.

By omar | October 26th, 2008 at 11:07 am

u may think tht we have takkabor mentality but wht it really is a “pissed off”mentality cuz we get no respect…look at u guys comparing below average teams to us 9algeria) i mean cmon b2b champs an enicy wiency speck of respect in my opinion right, i mean at the very least…and i agree with the dude who called mido a donkey..lol..but hes actually perfomin now…ahahh

By omar | October 26th, 2008 at 11:08 am

desereve an nicy wiency speck ****

By Abdullah | October 26th, 2008 at 5:58 pm

I hope something is done to make our attack a bit better with all the injuries, i mean comon Coelho has to put someone on the #9 spot.

Jemaa is a winger, ben Saada a midfielder(and can very well be trusted to score some goals) but that’s not enough.

Comon Coelho show us what your made of !

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | October 26th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

And get Fabien Camus he deserves to play with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted from Netherlands

By Moni | October 26th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

who is Fabien Camus ?

Posted from Netherlands

By Rami | October 27th, 2008 at 11:23 am

Abdullah, that’s why getting Allagui would help a lot. He’s not the most technical player from what I’ve heard (no crazy dribbles) but he’s clinical in front of goal which is what we need.

Moni, Fabien Camus or Fabien “Bachir” Camus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabien_Camus

Posted from United States

By Seif | October 27th, 2008 at 11:39 am

Hmmmm… I think Tunis being second seeded is what exactly we needed the boys now will open their eyes and kick some ass on that field you will see the true tunisian football like you did in 2004-2005

one love

Posted from United States

By Moni | October 27th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

Thank U Rami , the guy is een offensive midfielder , i thaught we have enough offensive midfielders, it is just a luxury I think.
On tunisie0foot they where discusing ? about bringing ben achour back ore something ?

MELLOULI wins allot of medals in Durban and challenges HACKETT

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24555426-5015720,00.html

Posted from Netherlands

By Achraf | October 27th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Humberto Coelho will hold a press conference on wednesday talking about the european players that include allagui, ghzal, and a new name Fakhreddine Galbi who played for monastir last season and tranfered to FC VADUZ. But I think it will be unnessesary to call him up when you are bringing Allagui. http://www.infosfoot.net/fr/articles/article.php?id_article=1010

By Momo | October 27th, 2008 at 10:07 pm

hey you guyes..it’s been forever since the last time i was on here. Hey Rami, how u doin bro..I hope everything is fine..the blog is looking great as usual. I have to tell you though, if there was ever a time to be talking and blogging, this is probably it right now fellas. I think this group is really gonna test our team and will give us a run for our money. If we qualify I guarantee you we will be able to finally put an end to the haunting World Cup record we’ve got. It’s gonna be tough though, and the games will be on fire this time around. The key to our success though is gonna be that game against Nigeria in Tunis (not to forget about Mozambique and Kenya of course whom we should be able to defeat at least on the books)..back to my point Nigeria in Tunis is a must win match. We have to take those three points no matter how, anyway possible (legal and..well u guys know what i’m talkin about haha) Then when we go to play them in Nigeria, we have to kill the freakin game Carthage Eagle style, and play like those games i see in the Tunisian league, where there is actually like 30 minutes playtime out of the whole 90 minutes. I don’t think you need to teach Tunisian players how to do that..yeah we do have some Roman genes in us..that’s why we are the Italy of Africa, and everyone knows that so we close that deal at 0-0..and then we can book our tickets to South Africa..that’s the scenario in my opinion for the Eagles to succeed in the qualifiers. I think we are capable of doing this, although we will need to maximize our utility (if not go a little beyond our limits) to do this. If Nigeria takes the games 100% seriously, we need to kick it up to a 150%. Think of it this way: A Ferrari on 2nd gear might lose a race to a Toyota that’s about to blow up on 5th gear. We can’t play at their level, because they’ll simply beat us.

Posted from United States

By Rami | October 28th, 2008 at 7:19 am

Welcome back Momo, I missed you man! Thanks for your analysis. The games against Nigeria are certainly the most important however we can’t underestimate the Mozambique and Kenya especially. Our first game is away in Nairobi. If we win this game, we’ll get a great boost of confidence. Basically we need to win all our games against these two teams and then battle it out tooth and nail against Nigeria. Italians of Africa we may be, but we’re going to have to play some football along the way!

Posted from United States

By Lola | November 9th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

Folks, Nigerians need love too. Rami, you’re basically right. Nigeria no longer seems invincible to anybody, least of all Nigerians. I think that is a good development because overconfidence is a national flaw. That said, I think we’re hungry enough this time and we won’t let anybody else pull an Angola on us. Tunisia and Nigeria basically have the same task at hand. Net full points against Kenya and Mozambique while scoring as many goals as possible, then duke it out with each other. Should make for great football.

Comments are closed