Experimental Tunisia Side Narrowly Edges Emirates

Tunisia won the game 1-0. Far from the number of goals that its many traveling and expat fans would have loved to see. Still though, a win is a win and we couldn’t have afforded anything less. More details will follow when I get a hold of some better footage. I’ll update this post when decent highlights become available. Belaid got his start and scored on a deflected free kick. I was impressed with some of Mikari’s tackles and overall play. Seems like he’s our left back for the future if he can continue to develop. I hope he gets to solidify his place there with time.

Meanwhile the seeds for the African Cup of Nations draw were released and contrary to what I previously thought, Tunisia is a 1st seed alongside Ghana, Egypt, and Nigeria. I was under the impression the seedings would be based on our place in the group qualifications but apparently the seeds come from past performances in qualifying for international tournaments and then the results obtained in said tournaments. We did qualify for the last four world cups, we won the 2004 African Cup, and we had a second round exit in the last one. Still surprising to see the likes of Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire in the second pool. I’m not complaining though because it means we won’t face the hosts early in the tournament. The draw takes place tomorrow in Accra. Needless to say, I can’t wait to see what our group looks like. The thought of facing Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Morocco, or Senegal in the first round is pretty crazy because any one of those match-ups could be championship match material. I know we can do well as long as we choose a team soon and start building some chemistry. The impatient spectator in me feels January can’t come soon enough… but the wannabe coach believes we need more time.

Here is how the pools breakdown:

Pool 1 - Ghana (hosts), Egypt (champions), Nigeria, Tunisia
Pool 2 - Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal
Pool 3 - Guinea, Mali, South Africa, Zambia
Pool 4 - Angola, Benin, Namibia, Sudan