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Tunisia vs. Burkina Faso Preview: In Search of Some Ouaga Whoopass

September 5th, 2008 | By: Rami | 65 Comments »

Fahd and Ben Frej Here it is folks, the moment of truth is upon us. Tomorrow we face the Stallions of Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou (don’t you just love saying that word?). This is the same team that snatched victory out of our grasps in the final minutes of our first match of the qualifying campaign and the same country that eliminated us on penalties in the quarter finals of the 1998 African Cup which they hosted. The 4th of August stadium in the capital of the West African nation has been the site of heartache for our national team. But things are different now.

We have since left our ultra defensive tendencies behind and are led by a Portuguese coach who favors joga bonito. A man who saw potential in the technical capacities of our players but voiced concern over our unwillingness to venture forward. A man who will now attempt to put us on the path for South Africa 2010. The person in question is Humberto Coelho and he has been working diligently since his arrival to instill a renewed sense of spirit and vigor into our style of play.

His efforts have not gone unnoticed and the fruit of his labor was put on display in our friendly against Angola. Even though we’ve been hit by unfortunate injury news on the eve of this crucial matchup, the Carthage Eagles have every chance to come home from Ouaga with a victory and the 3 points that represent our ticket to the next round of CAF qualifiers. Standing in our way is the only team to have produced nothing but wins so far. It is a motivated squad that has benefited from the clever management of Paulo Duarte (also Portuguese) and the goalscoring instincts of Moumouni Dagano.

The recent losses of Chermiti, Santos, Namouchi and Mikari are painful and the continued absence of Chikhaoui is annoying but we are fortunate in that Tunisia boasts some of the finest young talent on the continent and has a history of qualifying excellence. We’re talking about a country that has participated in the last three world cups. A country that has made a habit of making it to the big stage. That kind of consistency doesn’t happen by chance. While our nickname is the Carthage Eagles, we also like to call ourselves the Italians of Africa. The reason for this is our tactical discipline that we have adopted from our Mediterranean brethren. We are a team that thinks while it is playing. Our boys grow up with the knowledge that the final result matters more than the manner by which you obtain it.

It is precisely this type of “win at all cost” mind state that is necessary when you are faced with a game of this nature. These players have “grinta” embedded in their sporting DNA. That doesn’t just wear off. Irrespective of our latest stumbles, Tunisia is a team that knows how to secure a result.

The reason I haven’t bothered to talk about lineups and players much in this post is this: Tomorrow it will not matter who plays or how they play. The only thing that will matter is the final scoreline. These are the facts: Win by 2 goals or more and we top the group and are through to the second round. A narrow win also essentially puts us through as one of the 8 best second place teams. A tied match leaves us relatively strong chances of qualifying as long as we thrash Seychelles. And a loss, well a loss leaves us with miniscule chances. In the worst case scenario, we would be relying on huge favors from various teams in the other groups.

By no means is the task insurmountable. We would be kidding ourselves if we thought we couldn’t pull this off. We have the players, we have the gameplan, and we have the coach. All that is left to say is this: Inshallah marbou7a ya rabbi!

PS: Just because I didn’t discuss the possible lineup doesn’t mean you can’t! Drop a line if you have any ideas. I’ll update this post with any information pertaining to the match (which takes place at 8 PM Tunis Time and will be aired on ART Sport 1). I don’t expect that many of the players will be fasting since the local kickoff time is 6 PM. I doubt that was a scheduling coincidence!

What the players have to say.

The coach’s thoughts.

Photo Gallery of the Depature from Tunis-Carthage International Airport.

Allez la Tunisie!!!

Update

- Infofoot reports that Saber Ben Frej just did laps around the field yesterday and didn’t train with the group. Le temps also mention how he nearly got in a fight with fans at Mohammed Shtioui stadium in La Marsa. Not sure if those events are related but I’m guessing he was getting an earful from Esperance fans who really dislike him still for his gesture towards them a few years ago. Boussaidi is more likely to start tomorrow but we’ll see. Meanwhile, Chammam and Ben Zekri are being considered for Mikari’s place with Chammam having the upper hand since he’s a natural left back and Ben Zekri is more of a central defender.

- Mosaique FM reports that Radouane Felhi is very likely to be paired in the middle of defense with Karim Haggui.

Tags: 2010 CAF World Cup Qualifying, Burkina Faso National Team, Carthage Eagles, Group H, Humberto Coelho, Les Etaons, Paulo Duarte

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 65 comments.

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By Rami | September 6th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

So now we wait. I don’t know who we need to do what but we have pretty good chances of qualifying as best of 8 second placers. Inshallah.

Posted from United States

By marwen | September 6th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

that should have been a goal from seliti

By thamer | September 6th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

that was a disgrace

Posted from United States

By Rami | September 6th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

Not sure if it was a disgrace. We did what we could with a totally different team. The injuries hurt. Put Chermiti with that chance for Selliti and it’s in no question. That’s life. We coulda won, we coulda lost. We tied and its probably going to be enough to qualify.

Posted from United States

By skarabech | September 6th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

Are we throught to the second round??????? The commentator Issam said it…

Posted from Sweden

By Rami | September 6th, 2008 at 3:14 pm

We don’t know yet. I need to do more research on what we need to happen. As I said in the preview though, we have good chances to qualify with this tie. Not gonna write about this game today guys. Gotta let it settle in a bit.

Posted from United States

By Rachid | September 6th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Not as good as we wanted it to be, but it’s not a complete disaster. You don’t lose at home and aim to become number one in the group away from home against the team that beat you! Makes perfect sense. We now have 10 points and will very likey end up with 13. With no research, I say we’ll be “numero uno” among the 8 teams. Egypt may likely face a similar situation. Relax guys, don’t expect miracles from a new coach with all those last minute injuries of key players like Chermiti!

By Rami | September 6th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Our points and goals against Seychelles will not count:

Fifa explanation: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/africa/secondplace.html

Extract:

“The solution settled upon was the following: once all the matches in the four-team groups have been played, the results between the second- and fourth-placed sides will not be considered when comparing the second-placed teams’ respective records.”

I wrote about this sometime back: http://tunisia.worldcupblog.org/group-h/count-on-caf-when-you-want-complicated.html

Same for everyone else though. So we really have 7 points. It’s a mad complicated system which is why I don’t know what we’re looking for from other teams. Just from what I’m reading and hearing about online, we’re not in a terrible position. It would take a lot of things going against us for us not to make it.

Posted from United States

By Houssem | September 6th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

You know what we lacked ? SPIRIT ! Look at this : http://www.dailymotion.com/search/tunisie/video/x6o9f8_algerie-3-senegal-2-eliminatoires-c_sport

The Eagles should learn from that.

Posted from Germany

By Abdullah | September 6th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

I really dont like the line up he used today, he couldve used ben saada and belaid together, jemaa instead of selliti and maybe ben dhifallah.

Dont know what he was thinking experimenting with selliti and mouihbi when this match could mean the difference between qualifying and not qualifying.

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | September 6th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

Also ragued is not as stable as we thought, but he made up later in the match.

Posted from Netherlands

By Rachid | September 6th, 2008 at 6:21 pm

Bad math! The points against Seychelles don’t actually count, so we only have 7 points! Good luck.

By thamer | September 6th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Everytime we had possesion, the man with the ball would literally just kick it upfield hoping it would find someone, how the hell are we supposed to win like that. The the burkinabes were so much faster than us as well, perhaps the new coach should do a little more fitness.

Posted from United States

By Rachid | September 6th, 2008 at 10:51 pm

What do you guys think of this analysis:

http://forum.kooora.com/f.aspx?t=11822043

It seems that if Zimbabwee beats Guinea OR if Congo beats Egypt (or Egypt beats Congo, no tie), then there will be at least 4 teams whose number 2 has less than 7 points! We should then be homefree!

By thamer | September 7th, 2008 at 12:52 am

Balbouli
Ben Frej Haggui Felhi Mikari

Mnari Ben Yahia

Chikhaoui Belaid

Chermiti Ben Saada

The day we start a match with Chikhaoui Belaid and Chermiti will be the happiest day of my life. If we cant make it to the world cup with this kind of young talent then something is seriously wrong. I know that we’re still in the running but just the fact that we wont finish first in our group is ridiculous.

Posted from United States

By Abdullah | September 7th, 2008 at 2:53 am

Thamer you are completely right, i hate that same old tunisian long ball when there is 1 striker waiting up front who is just waiting on his own between 3 or 4 defenders.

Indeed how the hell will you score when everytime you lose posession of the ball by simply shooting the ball up front just to see what happens.

In the first interview Coelho said: ” ” In defense you have to rely on some individual marking but when we have the ball I want us to have grouped attacks where the players are close to each other and provoke the opposing team by running into space, not only with the ball but without the ball. Football for me is creating numerical superiority. When you get past one defender, the ball should not go backwards towards our goal, that is fundamental. In order for this to work you have to have players ahead of the ball. When you don’t have the ball, you need players behind it but when we take the ball I want us to have options up front ”

Well… to be honest i didnt see anything of that, is it the coach his fault or was it simply the players who were unable to create enough space to attack?

Well i think it’s both because the chance selliti had yesterday wouldve been a goal if it was up for Jemaa/chermiti/chikhaoui or santos, and i still dont why he chose selliti and ben khalfallah to play up front, but its obvious that it is definately not completely their fault, because posession of the ball was lost as soon as the ball hit midfield.

I dont know about you guys, but these kind of matches make me hopeless.

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | September 7th, 2008 at 3:02 am

But i see minimal progress, our defense has definately gotten stronger, i was really impressed by haggui yesterday.
Also balbouli did a great job and he deserves to start next time!

Posted from Netherlands

By skarabech | September 7th, 2008 at 3:17 am

yeah we’re through…

From Tunisie Foot:

Pour le compte des éliminatoires jumelés de la Coupe d’Afrique et la Coupe du Monde 2010, la rencontre Burkina Faso-Tunisie s’est soldée sur un score nul et vierge à Ouagadougou.

Ainsi, la Tunisie conserve sa seconde place au classement et pourrait donc se qualifier pour le tour suivant en terminant dans les 8 meilleures deuxièmes de poule de ce tour.

Formation face au Burkina Faso :

Mathlouthi, Boussaidi, Ben Zekri, Haggui, Ghezal, Ragued, Boujelbane, Belaid, Ben Khalfallah, Mouihbi, Selliti

Classement du groupe

Classement Pts J G N P Bp Bc Dif
1. Burkina Faso 13 5 4 1 0 11 4 7
2. Tunisie 10 5 3 1 1 6 3 3
3. Burundi 6 5 2 0 3 2 5 -3
4. Seychelles 0 5 0 0 5 3 10 -7

Posted from Sweden

By Rami | September 7th, 2008 at 11:28 am

Guinee tied Zimbabwe in Harrare. Egypt beat Congo 1-0.

WE’RE THROUGH! Not in first place but who cares. We’re gonna have to beat good teams to qualify to the world cup anyways. At least Coelho now gets time to build a team and our injuries to blow over.

Posted from United States

By skarabech | September 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

So are we only going to be grouped with strong teams?.

Posted from Sweden

By Rami | September 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

we’re not top seeds so we’re definitely going to have at least one very strong team to face if not more. Doesn’t matter though, that canhappen to you even if you’re a top seed. You don’t qualify for a world cup without beating some teams with quality. That is the hole point after all. Most important thing is we have time to build a competitive team now.

Posted from United States

By Rachid | September 7th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

That’s great, but we really have to rethink our entire approach! Counting on some lifeless, so-called players is not going to it. We have a serious problem due to lack of team spirit. Artificially mixing some players from Europe with other local players has proven not so good so far. Remember that Algeria, Lybia, and Egypt all won! Business as usual must be stopped and immediately!

By Abdullah | September 7th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

They have to show quality and motivation, otherwise its useless.
The best players should start and every player has a chance remember what he said in his first interview he has no problem with players from europe whatsoever if they play good they will deserve it, and im guessing the next match there will be lots of changes.

Posted from Netherlands

By achraf | September 7th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

all i am hoping for is for chikhaoui to get better and be himself again scoring lots of goals and still have his speed

By Abdullah | September 7th, 2008 at 6:45 pm

Actually achraf chikhaoui is not a striker, i mean he’s totally capable of doing so but we cannot only rely on an attacking midfielder to do all the scoring.

Posted from Netherlands

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