List for UAE Friendly

October 9th, 2007 | by: Rami |

Roger Lemerre released the list of players that have been called up to face the Emirates on the 17th. The group will start practicing on the 13th.

KASRAOUI HAMDI E.S.Tunis
MATHLOUTHI AYMEN E.S.Sahel
NEFZI ADEL C. Africain
ABDI WISSEM Zamalek
BELAÎD TIJANI Slavia Prague
BEN FREDJ SABER E.S.Sahel
CHERMITI Med AMINE E.S.Sahel
CHIKHAOUI YACINE FC. Zurich
DOS SANTOS SYLVA F.C. Toulouse
DHAOUADI ZOUHEIR C. Africain
El BEKRI WISSEM E.S.Tunis
GHEZEL SEÏF E.S.Sahel
HAGGUI KARIM Leverkusen
HAJ MASSOUD AMIR C.S.Sfaxien
JOMAA ISSAM F.C. Caen
MIKARI YASSINE Grasshappers
MNARI JAWHER F.C. Nuremberg
NAFTI KARIM C.S.Sfaxien
NAFTI MEHDI Birmingham City
RAGUED HOUCINE F.C.Mons
YAHIA ALAEDDINE S.C. Sedan
ZAIEM KAMEL E.S.Tunis
ZITOUNI ALI Antalya Sport
ZOUAGHI CHAKER Locomotiv Moscow

I’m looking for Chikhaoui to get a start and score a goal or two. He still needs to translate his fine club form onto the national level and this is his chance. Chermiti should have a confidence boost after scoring two incredibly important diving headers for his club in the African Champions League. Belaid gets his first call up in a long time and thank god for that. It proves to me that Lemerre is not blind or deaf. I’m very interested to see where he’ll put Belaid and at what point in the game he’ll be introduced.

Mehdi Nafti of Birmingham is back after a small absence from the squad. He should bring some much needed tenacity and tackling ability. Still no Jaidi, but maybe its all for the better because he’s not playing much in England and probably won’t be part of the team that makes it to 2010. Zitouni is back too, haven’t seen him for a while. All in all its not a bad list, although I wonder about our inexperienced defense. Bekri was not convincing in his last outing so he’ll be looking to play better. Haggui is the only one in that position who has a guaranteed place, the rest are around for tinkering purposes.

Also, I’m pleasantly surprised to see Jemaa after that nasty knee injury he suffered in Sudan. I’d love to see Lemerre opt for a super offensive lineup for experimental purposes. Given his track record though, I’d be very surprised if he did so. The result for this game is relatively important considering our last outing but I’d rather see good build up play and lots of chances rather than a solitary poached goal and a defensive display. No negative tactics, please! It’s time to showcase our technique and our skill!

What do you think of the list? Who would you put out on the field?

Update

Karim Haggui and Issam Jemaa will not travel with the team as they are both carrying injuries. No word yet on who will replace them.

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thamer

this might be the best team lemerre has ever put together. it has the perfect blend of youth and experience and is bursting at the seams with talent. With Chikhaoui Jemaa and Chermiti up front we should get plenty of goals. the midfield is ridiculous with zaiem, mnari, a.nafti, belaid. this is clearly a team for the future and we should definatly be a force to be recokned with in 2010. i would still like to see more of our defenders in european leagues though. ben fraj isnt that young anymore, but im sure he could be a starter on most french teams. although im not completely sure how good he is, im glad to see someone as young as dhaouadi in the team. i know that he is a regular for club african but anyone born in 88 and on the national team must have enormous potential, (same goes for chermiti)

btw, last week bilel ifa and nour hadria played 15 minutes in a friendly with the senior team…talk about potential
http://tunisia.worldcupblog.org Rami

didn’t know that ifa and bilel played with the seniors! thats great news. can’t wait to see how those kids develop. as for the senior side itself, as you said the midfield looks good and we have some nice offensive threats in our striking core. however, i must say that given Santos’ current situation with his club, i dont think that he should be in the team. when he’s on form he’s certainly our the purist finisher on the team (his goalscoring record shows that) but Lemerre is always talking about how players need to be imposing themselves at the club level before they can hope to get a call up. santos is a proven entity though and i guess they want to do their best to at least give him some field time since he’s not getting any at Toulouse and won’t for the rest of the season. It’s a strange situation really. He’s definitely getting some special treatment. check the link, theres some people (journalists) who are definitely not too happy with the situation. personally i doubt that training sessions and a game every month or so will be enough for santos to be at 100 percent by the time the african cup hits. he’s still living on the trust he gained in 2004. i’m not questioning his ability, just his selection during this lull in his career. hopefully it gets settled somehow. other than that i can’t complain much. although these guys can:

http://www.dailymotion.com/Footn/video/x36nx2_chawet3_sport

i do wish we were playing some heavier opposition though, with all due respect to the Emirates who have gotten a lot better in the past few years. I’d rather be seeing us take on a relatively strong African team that isn’t qualified for Ghana 2008. I wonder if that Brazil game will ever materialize?