Etoile (ESS) into Champions League Final!

Yesterday was a great day for Tunisian soccer. It started with CSS winning away from home on the score of 2-1 to stamp their ticket for the Confederation Cup final while the current holders of the Confed. Cup (ESS) were at home in Sousse facing an impressive Hilal team from Sudan. Having scored a goal and conceded two in the away leg, Etoile knew that they had every chance to make it through. All they needed was to make sure that they didn’t concede a goal and that they scored one themselves. The game started out perfectly as ESS took the lead through Amine Chermiti. Unfortunately after that, ESS changed their approach and decided to move their players back and guard the lead while hoping to hit Hilal on the counter. Hilal pressed hard but to no avail as the first half finished 1-0.

The second half started out favorably for the Tunisian side as Saber Ben Frej, who just came back from injury, pounced on the ball as it moved around like a pinball following a corner. At 2-0 one could have believed that we were safe but the Sudanese team was not ready to give up. They scored a superb goal of their own and boosted their chances of making it to the Champions league final. That scoreline would have taken us into extra time but Chermiti scored another one with his head on 63 minutes and sent the crowd into a frenzy. The drama lasted till the final whistle though as a conceding another goal would have ended Etoile’s Champions league dream. Thankfully they were able to hold on and break the record for consecutive continental finals (they’ve been to one every year for the last five years!). Today’s game between Ahly of Egypt and Al Ittihad of Lybia will determine who they face in the final. The first game in Tripoli finished 0-0 so Ahly simply need a win at home.

Hilal should be proud of themselves as they acquitted themselves quite admirably and made things very stressful for us. The controlled the run of play for long stretches and created many opportunities. Their elimination should not and does not take away from what they have already accomplished. They kept their chances alive till the last second and one strike could have given them the win. When playing away in a match such as this, theres not much more that you can ask for. Sudan is going through a wonderful phase in their soccer history and more is to come from them. The one weakness of Hilal that ESS managed to exploit was their defending on set pieces. All three goals were scored from such opportunities (I believe, the away goal came from one as well). Their coach might be lamenting the fact that he didn’t go over how they wanted to defend these situations.

The goals can be seen about a minute into this video:

Analysis and Highlights: