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Seychelles/France Call Ups Sneakily Posted on FTF Website

September 25th, 2008 | By: Rami | 17 Comments »

This is why it’s good to check the FTF website once in a while. Most of the time its not so interesting administrative news but sometimes you come across important announcements. More analysis will follow once I get home from work but drop a comment in the meantime if anything looks weird/interesting to you. I can name a couple already but my biggest question mark off the bat is the absence of Radhouane Felhi. Maybe he’s injured but I didn’t hear about it. In any case, this and other curiosities will be addressed later this evening.

Goalkeepers: Kasraoui Hamdi (EST), Mathlouthi Aymen (ESS), Mejri Arbi (EST), 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), Ben Zekri Yamen (Bastia), Mikari Yassine (Grasshoppers Zurich), Yahia Alaeddine (Lens)

Midfield: Boujelbene Anis (Al Ahly), Yahia Wissem (CA), Ben Khalfallah Fahid (SM Caen), Mnari Jawhar (FC Nurenberg), Traoui Majdi (Red Bull Salzburg), Khelifa Saber (CSHL), Ragued Hocine (Mons), Namouchi Hamed (Lorient), Darragi Oussama (EST), Ben Sâada Chaouki (Nice), Nafkha Mohamed Ali (ESS), Belaid Tijani (Slavia Prague), Mosrati Majdi (ESS)

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

So that’s 30 players and it will probably be trimmed to 23 in time for the Seychelles game on October 11th. Our match against France is on the 14th.

Update after the jump

Let’s get down to business.

- Hamdi Kasraoui is one of the preselected goalkeepers. As long as Mathlouthi recovers from a slight hand injury, I don’t think we have to worry about this. Khaloufi and Mejri are both younger and better options between the sticks.

- Ammar Jemal gets his first senior call up. When Seif Ghezal was suspended for the second leg of the African CL final in Cairo, Jemal was called upon to replace him and ever since then its been one accomplishment to the next for the lefty central defender. Felhi is superior in my mind but it’s not bad to give Jemal a chance given his recent performances.

- A logical return for Yassine Mikari that doesn’t demand much explanation. He’s fully recovered from his head injury and had an assist for Grasshopper of Zurich over the weekend.

- Alaeddine Yahia hasn’t been in the squad since he received a needless red card against Namibia under Lemerre. He’s since moved from Ligue I with Nice to Ligue II with Lens.

- I haven’t gotten a chance to see much of Saber Khelifa but apparently his range of passing is impressive (if what I’ve gleaned from various forums is true). Some still quesiton this decision but it might be a moot point since he’s likely to be one of the 7 players dropped if you take into consideration our quality in midfield. Same goes for Majdi Mosrati.

- Mohammed Ali Nafkha started off the season on fire and is cooling off a little these past few weeks. Hopefully he’ll take full advantage of the NT attention to rediscover some of his form.

- Issam Jemaa returns after a brief absence. The guy is known for being rather inconsistent but his double against Lorient over the weekend indicates he’s starting to warm up. Given the dearth of options up front, its about time.

- Hichem Essifi remains a mystery. I’ve heard he’s being scouted by PSV and some Austrian teams. Maybe one of these days I’ll get to see exactly why this is the case.

- After his infamous miss against Burkina, another coach might have dropped Selliti with a quickness. You can either deduce that Coelho is patient and understanding or that his hands are tied with Chermiti and Santos out injured.

- Looks like Chikhaoui won’t be ready in time. A real shame to face France without him but when he hasn’t even played a game for his club this season, you can’t just throw him into an international game without him being match fit.

- Abdelkarim Nafti fans continue to be disappointed. The CSS playmaker has been ignored for most of his career. Not sure what more he can do to merit a call up.

- No Khalil Chemmam on the left of defense. He came back from Burkina with Malaria of all things and has been in the hospital for the last two weeks or so. He just got out recently and will start getting himself back into shape with EST. He’s lucky he caught the illness in time as its debilitating effects are well documented. This has provoked some debate regarding immunization standards for our players when they travel to African nations in qualifiers. We’ll see what comes of that.

- After some impressive outings in the German second division, some were expecting Allagui to finally get his chance with the senior side. Didn’t turn out that way but if he continues to improve, Coelho will have to give him his shot eventually.

Tags: Ammar Jmal, Federation Tunisienne de Football, Group H, Habib Mejri, Humberto Coelho, Majdi Mosrati, Radhouane Felhi

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Comments

By Achraf | September 25th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

We are very weak at the forward position with the absence of Chermiti, Chikhaoui, and Santos. Felhi not on the list is a surprise but I think that Ghzal and Haggui in the center will work better. With Mikari and Ben Freg on the outside. I think that we are strong in the midfield with Belaid, ben saada, Mnari, and Traoui(or derragi). And hopefully Jemaa and Mouihbi will get the job done up front.

Posted from United States

By Rachid | September 25th, 2008 at 4:54 pm

The usual suspects, no surprises. The key will be to find the right formation and the type of play for best efficiency. Easier said than done, but that’s what continues to lack. Anything less than 3-0 against Seychelles is not good enough. Good luck!

Posted from United States

By Marwen | September 27th, 2008 at 5:53 pm

The list is good, except that the attack isn’t really strong. Kasraoui did a great job in goal today for EST, stopping a penalty and erasing 3 other goals. While seliti missed that penalty and missed another chance, but he made up for it by scoring.

Posted from Canada

By Tom | September 27th, 2008 at 6:26 pm

What is worng with Ben Dhifallah, he isn’t in the squad.

Posted from United States

By Rami | September 27th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

I agree with everyone that we’re a little thin up top. Chermiti, Chikhaoui and Santos’ absences are hard to swallow. Plus I heard Namouchi might have gotten reinjured in his teams loss against Le Mans. Seems every time he gets back on a field something goes wrong. Really annoying for him (and us) I’m sure.

Tom, Ben Dhifallah is injured I believe. That’s the new out of the Tunisie foot forums. Plus his team, Etoile, have been relying on Bukhari and Opara up front in his stead.

Posted from United States

By Achraf | September 27th, 2008 at 10:04 pm

Hey Rami, do you know anything about Sami Allagui? He has been on the news a lot lately on infosfoot. Is he on the Tunisian citizen? He is a great player.

Posted from United States

By Yassine | September 28th, 2008 at 4:40 am

Does this mean that we’re 100% sure that Chikhaoui won’t play against France?

By Moni | September 28th, 2008 at 7:43 am

Sami Allagui wish to play for germany , he already played for the U-16,17,20, teams.

Yo Rami do you have some news about Kamel Zaim and the EST defender that went to turkey ?

Posted from Netherlands

By Moni | September 28th, 2008 at 7:43 am

Moin Chaabani

Posted from Netherlands

By Rachid | September 28th, 2008 at 9:37 am

Rami, the Emeka-Bukari (and Mosrati) combination is working well for Etoile! So far in first half, Etoile 3 - Gafsa 0 in Gafsa! Selliti, despite wasting a penalty kick against Esperance yesterday, did quite well and I think could be up to the task (with some confidence). Stade played well, but ended up losing! They could have secured a much deserved win, but Esperance made some good changes towards the end of the game and knew how to get the 3 points!

By Rami | September 29th, 2008 at 9:23 am

Sami Allagui is leading the D2 of Germany in goals. I think he deserves at least a look at some national team action. He has Tunisian nationality as well as German but I remember reading somwhere that he expressed his desire to play under our colors. The only way to know for sure whether this is true is to give him a call.

Moni, Chaabani is doing fine with his team. He scored twice already. One of of them was a last minute winner against a Turkish side. In his goal celebration he took his shirt off and got his second yellow of the game. That was a few weeks ago but he’s back and doing just fine.

Rachid, Etoile look just fine with the foreigners, I’m just wondering what this does to the long term development of Ben Dhifallah. If he continues to not get action, even when healthy, then it might be time for him to reconsider his options. Even though having someone like him coming off the bench is an asset.

Yassine, its not impossible but its not likely at all. If he comes back on Oct. 2 against Milan and has an amazing game with no signs of fatigue then they could add him to the list. As long as Zurich allows them to do so because that would be past the two week period that is demanded for team to be informed one of their players is need for national duty. So I really wouldn’t count on it. Besides, I’d rather him back 100 percent then rushed and then reinjured.

Posted from United States

By Achraf | September 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

It looks like that Mr Coelho likes to play European team.
10/14/08 vs France, Saint-Denis
11/19/08 vs Slovakia, Tunis
02/11/09 vs Czech Republic (HOLLAND), Tunis
11/11/09 vs France, Tunis
These games are going to be big games and would like to see what the attendence will be at the last three games in Tunis.

Posted from United States

By Abdullah | September 29th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

Is that game against the Czech Republic going to be played in holland?

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | September 29th, 2008 at 3:07 pm

Oh i see it might be holland instead of Czech Republic, i hope holland agrees that would be so great !

Posted from Netherlands

By Achraf | September 30th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

Aïdkoum Mabrouk ! Inchallah kol am wintom hayeen ibkheer.

Posted from United States

By Yassine | October 1st, 2008 at 6:31 pm

Chikhaoui won’t play Tuesday against Milan
Aidkom mabrouk

By Rami | October 1st, 2008 at 6:39 pm

Yup, heard the same thing… Wack. Anyways, inshallah kol 3am ou entouma 7ayin ou b5ir ya jme3a. I know I’ve said it before but I really love the interchange of opinions on here. 3idkom mabrouk!

Posted from United States

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