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Tunisia
Faouzi Benzarti: The People’s Choice
Comments(115)
Today the Tunisian Football Federation made it official: Faouzi Benzarti will replace Humberto Coelho as our coach for the African Cup and beyond. Our World Cup exit hardly gave them a choice in the matter. Lest we forget, this is the man that many Tunisians were clamoring for back in 2008 when Roger Lemerre’s contract was coming to an end. Everyone knew this, but the FTF, in their infinite wisdom, turned a blind eye to the opinions of prominent retired international players and club presidents (because really, what do they know right?)
Instead, after an unbelievably slow and torturous search, then FTF President Tahar Sioud decided that Humberto Coelho would be a better choice. The Portuguese manager came with a smile on his face, told Tunisians everything they want to hear, and then proceeded to defy the very principles he said he would instill.
If you click the first link in the previous paragraph you’ll see that my initial reaction was skepticism. Back when we hired him, I wasn’t really sold on Coelho for the mere fact that I didn’t know him that well and didn’t see much on his CV that made him stand out or compare to Lemerre results wise.
However, the guy would turn out to be quite a performer… in interviews. After years of dealing with Lemerre’s petulant attitude and blatant disregard to the opinions of the press and national team supporters, having someone who actually smiled into the camera during his interviews was such a breath of fresh air.
He notched some results with us and managed to bring some new players into the fold but never fully turned the page on an era characterized by a conservative approach that, besides an all too brief blip in 2004, visibly constricted our players both physically and mentally.
Despite bringing new faces into the team, nothing significant changed on the field. We still played a boring and unimaginative brand of football. There were some fine moments but they were few and far between and were usually attributable to the spontaneous brilliance of some elements in the squad instead of having been the fruit of hard work in training sessions. That’s not to say Coelho didn’t do anything at all, only that he didn’t do what he said he’d do.
Then November 14th came and went, and with it revelations were made that brought us crashing down to earth. It’s been a long road to this day and it took a failure of massive proportions for our FA to finally acquiesce but the dream has become a reality. After seven years, we finally have a Tunisian at the helm of the national team.
And it’s not just any Tunisian. If we didn’t have someone appropriate for the job then there would be no point. Blind patriotism won’t take us very far. However, Benzarti has the experience, the will, and the character to finally bring real change to our national team setup.
Wherever he goes, titles follow and even when he leaves they usually keep coming for a year or two after as managers who succeed him inevitably benefit from the team ethic and discipline he instills, not to mention the players he identifies and then molds into winners.
Track Record
- Six Tunisian Championships: Etoile Sportive du Sahel (1987, 2007), Club Africain (1990), Esperance Sportive de Tunis (1994, 2003, 2009)
- One CAF Champions League: Esperance Sportive de Tunis (1994)
- One African Supercup: Esperance Sportive de Tunis (1994)
- One CAF Confederation Cup: Etoile Sportive du Sahel (2006)
- One Arab Champions League: Esperance Sportive de Tunis (2009)
That right there is the best record any Tunisian coach has but it only scratches the surface of his accomplishments and doesn’t truly indicate his full value. The list doesn’t tell you how passionate he is about football and his country, how he can hardly stand to lose a card game let alone a soccer match, how he trusts and nurtures young talent, how furious he gets if his players don’t apply what they learned in training on the field, and how he holds everyone to a golden standard and will never accept mediocrity.
In fact, his standards are so high that they are the main reason he’s coached so many places in Tunisia and elsewhere. If he feels that something isn’t right in the club at an administrative level and that people are unwilling to address it then he just leaves and those same officials end up regretting they ever stood in his way. You can’t bullshit this guy. I’d even venture to say that that’s precisely why its taken him so long to get a job offer from the FTF. Someone with his type of intimidating personality is difficult to control and they don’t like that.
In any case, for those Arabic speakers who want to know more about the man then I highly suggest listening to this interview on Mosaique FM’s Sport Show. It’s more than two and half hours long but it’ll do a better job of explaining why he is the best coach for us at the moment than I ever could.
For me personally, this boils down to the fact that we’ll finally have a passionate and motivated team that plays our brand of football which is traditionally built on winning technical duels, short passing, speed, and tactical discipline.
Benzarti is a huge basketball fan, it’s actually his first love and while we’re not going to start implementing a full court press, pressure is something that we will certainly be exerting on our opponents under him and we’ll definitely have an attacking philosophy (it’s not a coincidence Esperance is scoring about four goals a game this year and is more or less running away with the title at the moment).
With that said, he doesn’t have a magic wand (don’t tell him that though) and it would be unfair to judge him only on this upcoming African Cup of Nations where we’ve been drawn with Cameroon, Gabon, and Zambia. After getting the reins for no more than 24 hours as caretaker coach in 1994, he deserves a longer shot of handling the team, which brings us to…
Contract Details
According to the FTF, Benzarti will stay on as Esperance’s manager until the end of June when his contract with them expires. During that period he’ll be serving both functions. Then, once July rolls around he’ll sign a goal driven contract that should take him all the way through the World Cup qualifiers for Brazil 2014. It’s not ideal but it seems like the only workable solution at the moment.
Apparently, there is a possibility he could stay on as Esperance coach even after July and into the next year so that he can continue his work with them and fulfill their goal of winning the African Champions League but its just not clear if that’s going to happen or not.
In Other News
While Benzarti still hasn’t picked his assistant, it was announced today that Mohamed Ameur Hizam will be the physical trainer for the national team (he worked with Faouzi during his spell as Libya’s head coach) and Boubaker Zitouni or Khaled Azaiez are being considering for the position of goalkeeper coach and the new team doctor is Hedi Ben Ahmed.
Meanwhile Jalel Tekaya’s resignation was accepted in the Federal Bureau meeting today, Abdelmajid Hergal changed his mind about leaving the FTF and has been appointed as Futsal League coordinator.
Unfortunately, that means that the FA is still two resignations away from dissolution which would require new elections. Thus, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to get our wish for total and radical change on all levels…
Perhaps the commission put together by the ministry of sports to make recommendations about necessary improvements will eventually lead to that. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 115 comments.
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anyway, i didnt catch the match. how was it, which players stood out? which team played better/deserved to win? or anything else that might be interesting. lol.
Posted from 
United States
I didnt catch it either, just tuned in on time to see the replays and the match analyzation , apparently Ittihad isn’t doing so well according to what they were saying.
They also seemed to be a bit angry with Amine and one of the guys said a player like him should know how to control himself better.
Posted from 
Netherlands
wait…did he actually do this?
http://www.wat.tv/video/darrajji-rakem-3achra-1yz2q_1×1v9_.html
Posted from United States
Wow i’d like to see a clearer vid of that Thamer 
, btw if Jemaa keeps playing 20mins every match, i’m betting the list that Benzarti will be putting out soon ain’t gonna include him…
Posted from Netherlands
I saw the match of Chermiti this weekend and i think he should realy be stoped doeing such things as giving in to players that provoc him. He is very hostile and it got him a red card. Eventualy they’ve won by 2-1 but i could have been different.
He scored a nice goal and was hard to defend. You saw the frustration in the eyes of the opponent defence. But they’ve got him out of the match by frustrating him with words and he gave in. Saw this also alot in Tunisia when he played for ESS.
Herta is still down and i realy want to know whats going to happen during the Winter break. I don’t know if he signed for a year or for a half year and how his contract is made up. Can Herta get him back?
It would be great if Faouzi would be able to call Yassin to the Angola. I don’t know what his progress is at the moment but if its good let him please go with us.
What a game EST-CA, i know one thing for sure and that is the penalty given wasn’t realy a penalty.
Posted from Netherlands
I have been watching a lot of the Tunisian league lately and came out impressed with how many talented players we have.
Some players I thought have been playing well are:
EST-Nawara, Chammam, Msekni, Ayari, Darragi, Korbi
CA- Nefzi, Ifa, Dhouadi, Bachtobji
ESS- Mathlouthi, Akaichi, Abdennour, Jemal, Berradia,
CSS- Mrabet, Zaim, Nafti
CAB- Ben Mostafa, Jabari, Hichri
Also I am very happy with the european based players as of late, they have picked up there play after their embarrasment against mozambique. Mikari played very well this week and had plenty of opputunities http://team-tunisie.net/video+Yassine+Mikari+154
Also goals from Khallfallah, Zitouni, and Mehdi Nafti!!
Posted from United States
Thamer, yea that Darragi move was nice. Unfortunately its the most notable thing he did in the match. As for the match itself, I can tell you that Mouihbi looks like he’s finally getting back to that pre-ACL tear form. It’s taken a while but on Saturday he should have been awarded two penalty kicks and was more of a threat than Dhaouadi was. This is good news for our NT.
Abdullah, thanks for the Mikari vid. You can see that he’s not used to the finishing aspect of being a midfielder though. Once he improves his decision making and striking in that sector then he’ll be scary good. I think that Sochaux is going to turn quite a profit on him. He has potential to play in any of the top teams in France or even move abroad to a better championship.
Speeaking of our lefties in the NT. Abdennour is going to get tested by Werder Bremen: http://www.footafrica365.fr/article_367324_ES-Sahel-Abdennour-teste-par-le-Werder-.shtml
Hope he impresses!
Bassem, thanks for the update on Chermiti. Thats too bad he showed some immaturity with his reaction. Hope it doesn’t penalize him for too long.
Benzarti went to the USMO-ESS match on Sunday to check some players out. He said something interesting in an interview that made it into Dimanche Sport. He said that since Nawara (EST’s goalkeeper) got injured (thigh strain or tear-MRI’s pending) that he’s paying special attention to the goalkeeping situation in all clubs. Seems that he was going to give Nawara a real chance to shine in the NT. Too bad his injury was so badly timed. I hope its not serious and he can come back quickly because he’s been very impressive in his short time starting for EST. This shows that the doors is open for all players now and I like what it indicates as far as Benzarti’s thinking goes.
His press conference is on Tuesday now.
Posted from United States
Oh and Lazar if they play it (USA vs. Tunisia) anywhere in the US I’m going! Chicago, NYC, Cali, anywhhere… but let’s see if they make it happen for us 
Posted from United States
Rami, we have CA to thank for the injuries of our best goal keepers (just kidding, of course). It may have been a coincidence, but CA managed not to lose against Etoile and Esperance when both teams had to replace their goalies. Another coincidence is that both Balbouli and Nawara had to leave the game at about the 42nd minute! Finally, I totally agree with you on Mouihbi. He was on fire! Also, Akaichi of Etoile scored a superb and difficult goal against Monastir. He seems to be quite effective; that’s his 8th so far this season (we have CA to thank for him too!). So, yes, Tunisia got LOCAL talent!!!
Posted from United States
what the fuck…apparently our friendly with cote d;ivore has been replaced with a friendly with oman. how stupid can they be
Posted from United States
Yea Rachid, I saw the Akaichi goal. Happy for him but pissed at Club Africain recruiters and team officials who have made one mistake after the other in recent years. How the hell did we let him go?
Thamer, that’s an Benzarti decision I’m pretty sure. I think he has his reasons. Our squad needs time to gel and develop a style of play that is based on conserving the ball. You don’t really get to test out that kind of approach against the strongest team in Africa right now while you’re in your rebuilding mode. The players would inevitably fall back into that same approach we’re trying to get rid of. I think the rationale is that you play a slightly weaker team that you can hold onto the ball against and develop some passing patterns and some “automatismes” between the players and then you test that out again against a better opponent. Of course there is a counter argument to that but I’m pretty sure this is why Benzarti did this. Plus Oman beat Saudi Arabia not too long ago, and Saudi beat us pretty recently so…
Posted from United States
Rami: Hah, I didn’t notice- that is funny. Well, at least I gave you some publicity. So, are there known friendlies yet for Tunisia? And do you know when the Federation wants the players to report for preparation for the ACN? I write for the Ligue 1 blog so I’m anticipating writing a post on the African players leaving their clubs soon.
Posted from United States
Haha, cool Sarah I appreciate comment and your interest in general 
We used to have two friendlies scheduled, one with Angola and one with Cote d’Ivoire but that was when we still had Coelho and were going to prepare in Portugal for the African Cup. Now I only see one friendly scheduled: January 9th against Oman. I think that Benzarti doesn’t want to pack too many friendlies in and would rather work with the team really hard during the training camp that we’re going to have in the UAE. He chose that location because of the heat and he wants our guys lean and mean once they touch down in Angola. I imagine he’s thinking that this is the best way to do it, get them playing his style and send them into the tournament (hopefully) on a large confidence boosting win against Oman instead of sacrifice training time for more matches. Maybe they’ll add more though we’ll see.
As for the players themselves: The locals from the Tunisian league begin camp on the 20th of December while the expats in Europe arrive on the 24th. They’ll be in Tunis until the 31st when they leave for the UAE and then come back to Tunis on the 7th of January.
This article below says our list for the Cup comes out on the 31st at the latest but that doesn’t really make sense considering the professional players need two weeks notice to get liberated from their club sides. In any case, check back tomorrow as Faouzi Benzarti is having his first press conference to outline his whole plan for the NT and I will most likely be writing a blog post about it.
Sorry for the long winded answer and keep up the good work at the Ligue I blog!
http://www.infosfoot.net/fr/articles/article.php?id_article=2792
Posted from United States
Love the idea of training in Saudi Arabia.
Not much to do save train and sleep. It will also show whom is truly committed to the NT. those with any bad habits i.e night life will not last long in Saudi Arabia.
First list dropping next Monday (dec. 14)! Faouzi says he already knows the majority of who he’s calling up and he’s waiting on two players who play abroad to give their accord to come play (sounds like he’s bringing some veterans back to me but that’s just a guess). Also, he says knows about 7bib migalo lol. Stay tuned for an article coming this evening.
Posted from United States
Good stuff Rami, I think that he will be bringing back Mehdi Nafti, he is playing 90 minutes a game is dcoring goals. He is in the best shape of his career. But dont know who the other will be?
Posted from United States
Yea Achraf I was thinking the same thing. Maybe him and Radhi Jaidi? What about Mnari, does anyone know how he’s been doing?
Posted from United States
Mnari only played in three games this season, not fit at all, but what about benachour?
Posted from United States
nafti and jaidi arent needed in the N.T. calling them up would be a waste. he would be taking an opportunity away from younger players who havent gotten their chance yet.
Posted from United States
Yea but experience is important Thamer and we need at least three players on the NT that are veterans with experience so they could lead the team. We already have Haggui, and I want Nafti the other because he has been playing well and is fit, but I dont think Jaidi should be. Maybe Benzarti was talking about A.Yahia!
Posted from United States
Oh yea Achraf thats true! It could be Yahia… what a guessing game this is. Next monday can’t come soon enough (well except for the weekend which i want to enjoy haha). Thamer, I don’t know if it would be a waste. One of the main things missing the team in Mozambique was someone like Jaidi according to multiple sources (and Jaidi himself of course). He would not have let any of the young’ns ask for a bigger bonus on the morning of the game! You can see that their head was not in the right place. Haggui is the most mature out of the bunch but he’s still young and I think he got thrust into a responsibility that he wasn’t completely ready for. Our team can still be young and have two older elements in it. You need a little of everything to make a team work (off the field especially because these guys are fooling around a lot apparently ie. Nabil’s comment on nightlife)
Posted from United States
there’s an indication that we might be playing a freindley with USA on the 19 may 2010.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
Cool Slah! Where did you hear that? Got a source by any chance?
Posted from United States
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Nah its not, along with some other vids that are posted on there.
Posted from
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