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Roster Decisions

March 16th, 2009 | By: Rami | 17 Comments »

Humberto Coelho is set to reveal his squad for our our first qualifier on Wednesday. If you were in his place and had to pick 23 players to take with you on March 28th to face Kenya, who would be on your flight to Nairobi?

Here are my selections, please feel free to question them or add your own.

Goalkeepers: Aymen Mathlouthi (still my number 1), Arbi Mejri (should always be starting for Esperance in my opinion), Jassem Khalloufi (he’s not amazing but we gotta admit, no one is).

As far as Goalkeepers go stay tuned to my article on goal.com outlining our crisis. Hassen Bejaoui misses the cut not because I don’t like him but just because I haven’t watched enough of his matches.

Defenders: Bilel Ifa (best right back in the country at only 19 – and yes, I’ll admit my bias right now), Souheil Berradhia (not the most experienced at international level but its time for him to get some!), Seif Ghezal (could be starting if you ask me), Karim Haggui (not playing with his club but he brings something to the team, even if its coming off the bench if a starter gets injured), Radhi Jaidi (taking a veteran on a young teams first trip outside the country is a good idea), Ammar Jemal (he might not be playing in the league for a few games but he’s still one of our best defenders), Yassine Mikari (doing great things with Sochaux), Radhouane Felhi (played very well in the last CAN and has 1 current and 2 former teamates on the squad, that kind of chemistry is worth something in defense).

Khaled Souissi misses the cut due to injury. He’s be starting if it was up to me. Mohamed Bachtobji misses out because you don’t call up a defender for their first match in an away games that happens to be a qualifier for a World Cup.

Midfielders: Wissem Ben Yahia (he’s been inconsistent this year but he can always bring something if he’s on his day and works very hard even when he isn’t), Fahid Ben Khalfallah (might not be getting along with his coach at club level but this trip to Kenya might be exactly what he needs to forget about his problems at CAEN), Houcine Ragued (that enforcer we need, I like his tenacity), Chaouki Ben Saada (it’s time to extend an olive branch, I hope he’s apologized), Tijani Belaid (he’s been quiet since his hot start in the Czech league but he’s one of our untouchables really), Oussema Darraji (I know he wasn’t called up by Coelho last time but I liked what he did in Ghana and this is the same kind of trip), Jamel Saihi (you can call his goal against Holland lucky but at least he had the audacity to shoot it from that distance, that’s more than you can say for a lot of his teammates), Fabien Bachir Camus (honestly I don’t really know why I’m including him, I guess I just want to see what Coelho does!)

Zouheir Dhaouadi would’ve made my team. Sucks he went down, rumors were that Coelho was going to pick him after being impressed with his league form.

Strikers: Issam Jemaa (said it in the comments of the previous post, he lead us in scoring during our last qualifying campaign for the CAN – I’m not his biggest fan because I wish he’d pass more but you can’t argue with those stats. Plus he’s always worked his tail off when wearing a Tunisia jersey), Sami Allagui (you don’t even have to waste time thinking about this one), Lassad Nouioui (the talk to Tunis, put him in for the last 20 or 15 minutes- especially if we’re up and see what he can do. plus that makes him Tunisian forever), Ali Zitouni (I know he hasn’t repped for a while but he always plays for his team in Turkey and is contributing a lot from what I’ve read. At least he’s in shape!)

Amine Chermiti is out with a bruised thigh and hasn’t been playing, I don’t know if it’s wise to take him even though I wish we could.

What do you think? I am bound to have forgotten someone I shouldn’t have. Please point it out to me!

Tags: CAF 2010 World Cup Qualifying, Carthage Eagles, Group H, Humberto Coelho, Tunisian Football

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Comments

By Abdullah | March 16th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

Essifi maybe?

Posted from Netherlands

By Rami | March 16th, 2009 at 9:39 pm

Good call Abdullah, I did completely forget about our “Hulk.” You argue that he could go in Zitouni’s spot if you take into account his two goals versus Seychelles. That was a while ago but two goals are two goals no matter how you cut it. Zitouni isn’t too far off though, he could make an impact given the right circumstances. I hope we get to see a sighting of Lassad + Allagui in attack. That seems like it could be very entertaining.

Posted from United States

By thamer | March 17th, 2009 at 1:02 am

i’ll be surprised if boussaidi isnt called up. hes got experience and is in his prime and is an undisputed starter for a good european team. and mikari can’t be the only natural left back, throw chemmari in there too instead of felhi or jmel.

Posted from United States

By thamer | March 17th, 2009 at 1:03 am

chammam, my bad

Posted from United States

By Rami | March 17th, 2009 at 9:00 am

Yea I didn’t forget about Boussaidi but I agree he’ll most likely be called up instead of either Ifa or Berradhia. He played well versus France and against Angola in Coelho’s first game. I just prefer the other two myself because I’d like us to focus on developing younger players for 2010 and beyond.

Jemal could’ve deputized at left back like he did against Holland but that’s not exactly useful against a defensive Kenya. Mikari would’ve started in my list but if you need to take a defender out then I’d take out Jemal (latest four game suspension will hurt his conditioning) or maybe even Haggui (he basically has not first team minutes these days).

By the way, Jemaa has a slight tear in the interior meniscus of his knee according to Lens. I doubt he’ll take part in the trip now. I guess I’d take Essifi in his place. Too bad though, Jemaa usually lives for these matches against African teams…

Posted from United States

By tounsi | March 17th, 2009 at 9:10 am

no matter what players will be called up..if the strategy is to defensive then i really think that its gonna be a big loss for us. not saying that we couldnt win but we certainly may drop some points out there.

Posted from United States

By Achraf | March 17th, 2009 at 10:12 am

Not having Jemaa is going to hurt. I think it will give Chermiti a better chance of being called up though. It also gives Selliti a better chance and that better not happen. We cannot play defensive against Kenya. We got to attack hard and get as much goals as possible because goals will count later on. We can play more defensive against Nigeria, but not Kenya or Mouzambique.

Posted from United States

By Feedi | March 17th, 2009 at 12:07 pm

I dont think Ben Saada is gone to play or called up.first he must to apologize.If Ben Saada dont play i like to see Nafkha,Namouchi,Traouri or Benachour

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | March 17th, 2009 at 3:11 pm

Ben achour?? i have doubts is he still the playmaker/goalscorer he was before?

Traoi is on a loan to al wahda, but i havent heard from him in a while, wheres ben dhifallah and how is mouihbi doing.

And honestly guys i’d rather have santos play than selliti.

Posted from Netherlands

By Rachid | March 17th, 2009 at 3:13 pm

Hey Rami, after what happened against Djoliba (sp?), don’t you think it’s time for CA and its fans to hibernate? Still pushing Ifa? How about Ben Rejeb as goal keeper? Kidding aside, the impression I have is that once again we’re managing to tackle a difficult task totally unprepared! Where is the team? Every other player seems to be hurt or sitting on the bench. We keep talking about new promising players, where is the time for them to properly get integrated into the team? I hope I’m wrong, but I still have very low expectations from this new approach we’ve been adopting: relying on foreign based players. Good luck!

Posted from United States

By Rami | March 17th, 2009 at 3:33 pm

Abdullah, out of the ones you metnioend the only guys I’d consider are Traoui and Ben Dhifallah (he’s been playing and even scored a nice free kick for Etoile in their Champs League match).

Rachid, I’d rather not talk about that match because I’m not totally over it yet but I can tell you that its basically a combination of bad preparation (no Bachtobji in the list!), and a lack of a solid bench. Whenever you need to be relying on Khaled Saidi in the form he’s in, you’re in trouble. Souissi went down injured which sucks the most because he’s the rock in defense. No one has been able to get by him this year and he’s one of the main reasons we have the best defensive record. Then the loss of Dhaouadi has a huge impact in a 433 formation where he alternates with Messaadi on the wing and causes huge problems with his speed and dribbling. Finally, Djoliba is a good team and they took their chances. Ben Rjeb messed up on the second goal but I still think he’s better than Nefzi. We need to go to Mali and win 2-0, 3-2, or 4-3 to win it in regular time. To win it in extra time or penalties we need to get a 2-1 result. As Abdelhak Ben Chikha said “mahash Real Madrid.” We won’t be scared of them but its true that we’ve made things very difficult for ourselves. Stupidly too. Every team goes through period of doubts and ours just happens to be at this very important part of the season. Etoile went through it earlier this year, Esperance just came out of it recently. We need to bounce back if we want to advance.

Posted from United States

By Rachid | March 17th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

Rami, you’re absolutely correct on all points. I agree with your views. It’s a cycle that every team goes through; it’s just in a specially bad time for CA. Bachtobji’s affair is a huge miscalculation and unfortunately Wislati was out defending it vigorously! Those Djoliba guys were quite physical and he could have helped the team. Worse yet, they did not even let him know he was not on the list! I sure wish them luck in Mali. It was heart breaking to see them in that lousy game.

Posted from United States

By Achraf | March 17th, 2009 at 5:43 pm

Infosfoot just reported that Ben Chouikha, Ghariani and Traoui will be on the list. I dont know about Ghariani but Ben Chouikha has been playing really well.

Posted from United States

By Rami | March 17th, 2009 at 5:59 pm

Wow that’s really surprising. Not necessarily in a bad way but I have mixed feelings about this if it turns out to be true. Ben Chouikha is a very good creator and passer, no doubt about it. And Ghariani made both Esperance and Club Africain pay for their defensive mistakes. They can both bring something when facing Kenya. However, the only question that needs to be asked is why didn’t we do this sooner? Would’ve been nice to get these guys some time with the rest of the group and build some chemistry. My fear is that we’ll put out a team full of players that are not familiar with each other. On the other hand, Coelho did say he has 20 percent of the squad to pick players who happen to be in form and Ben Chouikha and Ghariani fit the bill. Still mixed feelings about this. It could turn out to be a masterstroke but if we mess up in Kenya, you won’t hear the end of it.

Traoui makes sense to take if he’s in fact healthy. He knows how to travel from all his time with Etoile and he proved himself in the Burkina Faso game when he came on for Mouihbi. We retook the midfield once he came on to provide some balance.

Thats some crazy new though, we’ll know if its true tomorrow! Thanks Achraf

Posted from United States

By Houssem | March 18th, 2009 at 6:00 am

Hey guys, the list is out !
http://www.infosfoot.net/fr/articles/article.php?id_article=1698

It’s satisfying overall, although I really would’ve wanted to see Ben Radhia and Felhi get a chance here. Felhi has had more competition that Haggui (only 3 full league games and 3 last minute substitutions so far). Ghezal and Jaidi have played enough to be called up though.
Midfield looks fine, I’m especially thrilled about Allagui and Nouioui.

Posted from Germany

By Rachid | March 18th, 2009 at 7:03 am

It’s looking great! Especially happy for Karim Nafti; he deserves it. I think we’ll take care of business in Kenya. Good luck!!!

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