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No Big Surprises in Final Roster List

October 3rd, 2008 | By: Rami | 11 Comments »

Coelho announced the 23 players who have been called upon to represent us versus Seychelles and France. The main omissions are Arbi Mejri, Majdi Traoui, and Radhouane Felhi.

Besides the additions of Ammar Jemal and Mohammed Ali Nafkha, this is basically the same team that traveled to Burkina Faso. Can’t hurt to build some continuity there. We didn’t look all too cohesive in Ouaga so hopefully another week of training will do the boys some good and create some mutual understanding of how we’re going to build our attacks.

Goalkeepers: Kasraoui Hamdi (EST), Mathlouthi Aymen (ESS), Khalloufi Jassem (CSS)

Defenders: Ben Frej Saber (Le Mans), Boussaidi Anis (Red Bull Salzburg), Jemal Ammar (ESS), Jaidi Radhi (Birmingham City), Haggui Karim (Bayer Leverkusen), Ghezal Seif (Young Boys Berne), Mikari Yassine (Grasshoppers Zurich), Yahia Alaeddine (Lens)

Midfield: Boujelbene Anis (Al Ahly), Yahia Wissem (CA), Ben Khalfallah Fahid (SM Caen), Ragued Hocine (Mons), Darragi Oussama (EST), Ben Sâada Chaouki (Nice), Nafkha Mohamed Ali (ESS), Belaid Tijani (Slavia Prague)

Strikers: Essifi Hichem (USMo), Selliti Mohamed (ST), Mouihbi Youssef (CA), Jemâa Issam (Lens)

- Coelho defended replacing the ever impressive Felhi with his teammate Jemal because he simply wanted a chance to see how he can implement Ammar’s “solidity and rigorousness in one on one duels” in the team. Essentially, he’s got nothing against Felhi and he could very well be in his future plans but bleeding some young talent never hurts. Can’t say I disagree.

- No Namouchi once again. Starting to wonder if he’s ever going to come back to full fitness and stay there for good (or at least longer than a week or two).

- Everyone knows we’re going into this game offensively handicapped by the injuries to Chermiti, Chikhoaui, and Santos. Issam Jemaa and Mouihbi will likely be the pair relied upon the most in their absence. Not to mention the midfield which is rather solid these days. Biggest problem for us has been creating that link in the last third of the pitch. We’ve yet to see a full game of offensive rhythm that was one of Coelho’s main selling points coming in. Creating that at home against Seychelles shouldn’t be much of a problem but playing France three days later in Paris will be another story altogether.

- Nafkha is rumored to be receiving some interest from Hertha Berlin. He won’t be getting a much better chance to showcase his talents on the international stage than against France. Assuming he makes it into the game…

- Sami Allagui is on Coelho’s radar. Leading the German second division in scoring will do that for you. With our strikers dropping left and right, it’s nice to know there’s some untapped resources out there. Infosfoot also mentions the possibility of bringing in Khedira and Hatira from Germany as well. I’m pretty sure both these kids haven’t expressed much of a desire to play for Tunisia in the past. They’re currently on the German youth teams (U21 and U19). Not sure what has changed since then…

- Arbi Mejri isn’t in the list since he was suspended and fined by EST for getting in a fight with teammate Ahmed Hammi. They’ve since reconciled their differences but Mejri will be irked that a minor tiff has cost him a place for club and country. He’ll be back soon I imagine.

- Our best player in the Burkina Faso game, Majdi Traoui didn’t make the list. Likely picked up a minor injury while playing for club because you’d expect him to make this squad given the balance he brings to our play and his ability to maintain possession. Nevertheless, Nafkha fits into this same mold, so hopefully he can do some of the same.

How’s everyone feeling about this? Satisfied or mystified? I find most of it to be rather logical given what we have at our disposal.

Tags: Ammar Jemal, CAF World Cup Qualifying, Group H, Humberto Coelho, Majdi Traoui, Tunisia Football

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Comments

By Rachid | October 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am

Offensively, nothing to write home about! Good chemistry is still missing with this very interesting mix of players. Not sure if one week can do it, but that’s the time we have. Good luck!

Posted from United States

By Seif Kobrosly | October 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 pm

hey rami boy, man I dont like the fowards does not look good one bit at all we need to get serious and go big in South Africa Bafana Bafana!

By achraf | October 4th, 2008 at 9:49 am

I am very happy to hear that Coelho is looking at Sami Allagui, Anis Hatira, and khedira. They are all great players and would make a major impact on our offense, especially Allagui. We would have a great group of forward with him and the injured Chermiti, and Chikhaoui. I think they are our future. I am impressed that hertha Berlin is interested in Nafkha. Maybe they like Etoile players.
Hatira-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uB8U5Draqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRWPPU5xvk8

By Abdullah | October 4th, 2008 at 11:21 am

Im very satisfied Coelho is looking for young talented players, we can never have enough options.
In this case Sami Khedira and Anis Ben Hatira are 2 good midfielders, who could mean a lot to our midfield and possibly give us that little extra push towards the front, Allagui is a rising star but the question is will he choose to play for tunisia or wait until he maybe gets his chance on the german team.
Allagui and Khedira are both half tunisian so i hope Coelho knows how to convince them.

Anyway it is good to see that we are not only sitting around waiting for things to get better, as far as looking for new players goes, i wouldnt mind having a few extra european/touansa, especially some attackers because the defense and midfield is becoming to form, the only thing that is left are the attackers.

Posted from Netherlands

By Rami | October 4th, 2008 at 11:30 am

I agree everyone. New players isn’t a bad idea. Especially looking towards youth. Coelho also mentioned Hamza Messaadi, a new youngster that CA picked up out of Tazarka for one thousand dinars (so cheap!). His nickname since he started playing soccer has been Ibrahimovich and if you ever get to see a CA match you will see why. The kid is really really talented and put on a complete show against USMo. For me Bilal Ifa needs to be on the team that (hopefully) makes it to World Cup 2010. He can play left, right, and in the middle of defense. He’s taken home player of the match honors (voted by the fans on CA website) so many times now and on a team that includes Yahia, Mouihbi, Dhaouadi, and Alexis, that says something. Plus there’s still the Nour Hadhrias and Youssef Msaknis of the world waiting in the wings. We’ve got the talent, its just some of it has to mature a bit. In the meantime, solidifying our team with European recruiting isn’t the worst idea.

I’m watching Bremen vs. Stuttgart this morning and Khedira just scored on a nice finish pushing past the keeper and into the empty net.

Posted from United States

By Yassine | October 4th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

It’s been a long time since we played a world-class prestigious team as France. And it’s a shame that our 2 best current players won’t play because of injuries; Chermiti and Chikhaoui, with out them we’re offensively weak.
Let’s hope that Mouihbi replaces them well..

By Marwen | October 5th, 2008 at 9:52 am

Rami when are the two matches?The Defence and Midfield are great and mouhibi and jemma will probably do well as strikers.

By Rami | October 5th, 2008 at 10:57 am

Hey Marwen, Seychelles is on Oct. 11th (Saturday) and France is on the 14th (Next Tuesday). Not much time between the two matches really. Coelho said that against Secyhelles we’ll go all out offensive for the win but will be a little more cautious against the French. I think its fair to say we’ll need to adjust. The difference in quality is huge between these two opponents. Balance is what I’m looking for. If we sit back and defend all game like Lemerre times against France we’ll end up tiring out and losing. Gotta find the right equilibrium between attack and defense. There isn’t much time but hopefully it will work out.

Posted from United States

By Achraf | October 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

what are the times of the two games and where will the seychelle game be played in tunisia

Posted from United States

By Achraf | October 5th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

http://www.mosaiquefm.net/index/a/ActuDetail/Element/4993-Le-Foot-Africain-va-de-plus-en-plus-mal.html

Posted from United States

By Rami | October 5th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

Seychelles match is at 5:00 pm (Tunis Time) in Rades on October 11th.

France is at 9:00 pm (France Time) in St. Denis Stade de France October 14th.

Achraf thanks for the link. Things really went crazy in the ESS match.

Posted from United States