Injury Bug Rears It’s Ugly Head

According to the latest Mosaique FM report out of Tamale, it appears unlikely that Issam Jemaa will be starting on Wednesday against Senegal. Let it be known that the correspondent made the point of saying “it’s looking hard for him to be a starter” (in arabic of course) so there’s a chance he’ll come on but apparently Lemerre is deciding between Chaouki Ben Saada and Mehdi Ben Dhifallah as replacements. I have to say that I’m bitterly disappointed about this as Issam is the one who essentially lead us through the qualifying phase. He was unlucky in Germany 2006 when he was injured at the last minute and now it looks like the streak continues. Last time he was replaced in the list by Haykel Guemamdia and missed out on the entire tournament. At least this time around the injury isn’t nearly as serious.

It’s unclear whether this is still the injury he sustained in the first Zambia game. Back then the team doctor insisted that it would only take three days for him to get over it. I’m speculating but I think that the injury itself has healed and the staff didn’t want him to play a full game because he missed most of the practice sessions where the team worked on getting in optimal physical shape. So instead maybe he’ll be a super sub or something. Unfortunately thats not the extent of the bad news as Mehdi Nafti is also suffering from an injury that goes unspecified in the report. He was definitely in my starting eleven also so this is somewhat worrying. I’ve gotten to watch a lot more of him this season since Birmingham City moved in to the Premiership and had been so impressed with his performances this year. The thing I love about him is his toughness. The guy is so aggressive and simply doesn’t give an inch. We don’t know the extent of the injury so I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

My only wish is that this is the last bit of injury news I need to write about. Any opinions about who you’d rather see in Issam Jemaa’s left midfield role? Or perhaps you’d go for a bolder tactical change and totally switch things up? If you got a spare moment, let us know your preference… My vote is to put Chaouki in. I always feel like he never gets enough playing time in National Team and maybe it’s finally his chance to shine in an important game. I want to believe that he’d rise to the occasion and perform admirably. Due to his inexperience at this level, I don’t have Ben Dhifallah down as a starter… Even if some Mosaique reporter claimed Lemerre said the replacement call up from Etoile could be one of the tournament revelations. I think he’s got him confused with Yassine Chikhaoui

Update

This Infosfoot article claims Jemaa will play while more Mosaique reports that he won’t be playing. It’d be nice to get a straight answer!

Dimanche Sport Report on Carthage Eagles Trip to Ghana

Speaking of Yassine, check him out in this video six minutes in or so. I love how sincerely modest he is. Looks like the Zizou similarities are not exclusive to playing style… On a completely different note, it looks like the accommodation and stadium situation in Tamale is a lot better than expected. So well done to the organizers for pulling through on everything (even though that pitch in Accra definitely featured some ridiculously long grass) Furthermore, it’s come to light that only two teams will be taking advantage of this newly built hotel. South Africa and Angola both decided to stay elsewhere.

As usual the rest of the Dimanche Sport is available with the ever helpful Beurkman.