Finishing With Grace: Tunisia vs. Seychelles Preview

There’s been so much focus put on the France friendly on October 14th that our final qualifier against Seychelles three days earlier is taking somewhat of a backseat. That may be the case for the media and for the footballing public in Tunisia but it’s definitely not the case for the players who learned the hard way against Burkina Faso that underestimating an opponent because you are playing at home only increases the chances for a slip up.

Let’s be clear about this though: Seychelles are no Burkina. We beat them 2-0 in Victoria under Lemerre without convincing in terms of offensive interplay. You could argue their synthetic field had something to do with this but I think it’s more due to our general lack of imagination under the overly defensive mindset of our former coach. Interestingly, an absence of attacking fluidity still plagues our team two games into Coelho’s turn leading the Carthage Eagles. He came in promising a complete change of mentality and while it is said there is a new willingness to venture forward instilled in our players, the improvements have been minimal. After six year of Lemerre, its not so easy for the players to completely change their tactical outlook.

It is for this reason that the match against Seychelles is compelling in its own way. Since they are a team of modest technical abilities, they will be prudent, sit back and soak up pressure as much as possible while looking for countering opportunities. This means the impetus will be on us to create offensive rhythm and find the holes in their defense. Our level of success will determine whether we are truly turning the page on Lemerrian strategy. It is still early in Coelho’s tenure and we don’t expect him to use a magic wand to completely overhaul our playing style in two games. However, evidence of change is expected.

This game has taken on a new dimension in light of injuries to key players such as Chermiti, Chikhaoui, Santos, Nafti, Namouchi, and most recently, Mouihbi. Nevertheless, they call it a national team for a reason and even though the loss of these players is nothing to smile about, we have replacements that are certainly capable of beating Seychelles by a wide margin if they play together and mount sustained constructed attacks on the opposition. I say a wide margin because the more goals we score, the better chance we have of leapfrogging Burkina for first place on the last day of competition. A 1-0 loss by them in Burundi coupled with a 3-0 win by us in Tunis will put us on top.

Possible Starting 11

Here is the projected lineup according to le Quotidien: Mathlouthi, Ghezal, Haggui, Ben Frej, Mikari, Ragued, Ben Yahia, Belaid, Ben Khalfallah, Selliti, Jemaa

That actually doesn’t look bad at all. Ben Frej was maybe going to miss out due to an ankle injury but is recovering just in time, Mikari will mark his return after missing the match in Ouagadougou with a head injury, and Ben Yahia will finally get to start a game on the international stage. Belaid is in impeccable form these days while Jemaa got on the score sheet twice in Lens’s last match. Add to that an enthusiastic Ben Khalfallah who will be playing for the first time in front of the home fans and this could prove to be a fruitful mix. It’s going to be interesting at the very least. Boujelbane, has potential to start in a defensive midfeild role as well if Coelho wishes to keep Ben Yahia or Ragued on the bench for whatever reason. Radhi Jaidi is sure not to make an appearance after picking up an unspecified muscular injury in practice. Radhouane Felhi has been called up to replace our former captain.

The match will take place in Rades on October 11th (Saturday) at 5:00 pm Tunis Time. Coelho opted for a return to Rades stadium after he saw that how no one showed up to the Angola match in Menzah. He wants the maximum number of fans to attend. I’m surprised he thinks a change of venue will do the trick. Rades holds more people but is harder to get to for most Tunis based fans than Menzah stadium. In any case, location changes won’t mean much until they make it out to some southern parts of Tunisia. Speaking of which….

In Other News

-Tunisia is set to play Benin, first round exits from Ghana 2008, in Sousse on the 19th of November. This match replaces Tunisia vs. Slovakia. I would have rather seen the latter matchup but it never hurts to prepare for CAF qualifiers by playing against African teams. Especially ones that we are not used to playing. This should be a fun match for former Etoile player Muri Ogunbyi Ola. Meanwhile, we’re also lining up a Tunisia vs. Holland matchup on February 11th, 2009. I think that makes up for the loss of Tunisia vs. Slovakia no? Definitely an exciting fixture and one I’ve personally been waiting for a long time.

- Youssef Mouihbi is walking without much pain in his knee and the swelling is down considerably. It is possible that his injury is not as serious as previously feared and is closer to a Chermiti style dislocation rather than a complete rupture of the ACL. He spoke on Mosaique FM and was in high spirits before his departure for France for more tests and then surgery.

-The Tunisian NT visited the Therapeutic Center for Handicaps in Sidi Thabet yesterday to offer moral support to the patients of the hospital (more pictures here).

The successful initiative was thought up by Humberto Coelho himself (who else?). He expressed a desire to multiply these types of efforts to build more of a community around the team and a bond between the fans and the players.

This is becoming a recurring theme, Coelho with great ideas and the FTF just being the yes men. On that note a Mosaique FM opinion poll asking “What do you think about the FTF?” had these results at the time of publishing:

Total votes: 2510

Weak: 67.1% (1692)

Rather Passive: 23.98% (602)

Fills its role correctly: 5.78% (145)

Very Efficient: 2.83% (71)

If you’d like to hear the players and coach’s thoughts regarding the upcoming match and their visit to Sidi Thabet click here. Also available, are declarations from Youssef Mouihbi and Khalil Chammam. A packed episode of Cafe Sport that’s for sure.