Surprises In The List For Kenya

Is the ball diffirent?Harder,softer………….

Posted from  Netherlands

Your team is arriving on thursday and still expect it to win that is a very big mistake they will be having jet lag so this means, they will train only on friday.If at all you were serious about winnig this game you should have been here on tuesday.I,m sure this will teach you a lesson and be serious in your next matches.Your are the only team in Africa to have qualified for last three world cups but you have always dissapointed,i can still remember the game Morroco played against Austria in 1998 which they won, only to find Brazil had lost to Norway so they were not able to go to the second round and i was very young.I cant even remember right now a single game you played in those world cups,even the likes of Senegal,Ghana and Nigeria have performed better.My point is this any other team should qualify from this group a part from you coz i don’t see why you should go to the W/C.

Haha, Hatim that wasn’t me. I don’t have a bike. But I do have two club africain jerseys

Eric, our current team isn’t the same as the ones you mentioned. We’re a lot more technical and a lot more offensive. Did you see our match against Cameroon in the African cup? Expect us to play like we did in the second half of that game for the whole game against you. Also, Tunisia was the first african team to ever win a game at the world cup in 1978. Its thanks to us that they started allowing more African teams to take part. And you can’t compare our current squad to the teams that came before, we’re so much better technically and physically. You’ll just have to see for yourself

Posted from  United States

Eric..I think Tunisia knows how to handle jet lag. Thats why we have been to three straight world cups. About to be four. And when we qualify again don’t bother watching our games. We don’t want haters following Tunisia.

Eric you are right. our national team was in the last three world cups a disappointment to Africa and also to the fans , but I dont think Kenya will do or would have done better!!

E-Man I hope wat you said about Kenyais treu,but Tunisia is still going to win!I hope you win versus Nigiria.Mozambique dont care.

Posted from  Netherlands

Well, we (Kenya) have already dispatched one team higher ranked than you are in the previous round of qualifiers, and another that was at the time 30 places above us while you were getting walloped by Burkina Faso.

We had this same discussion with the fans of those teams before – for us it is just Deja Vu.

You have been warned. I hope your boys come here with the same attitude their fans have, of under-estimating a bonafide giant-killer.

Kenya at home have been extremely strong, rallied by the 12th man (the fans) and a confidence like no other. Echoing Max’s comment, a huge ingredient of many a team that meet their downfall in Nairobi is underestimating how driven Kenya are when they play at home.

This is also spurred by the Harambee Stars successfully getting past the previous round(s) and who can deny the fact that Kenyan players are getting better exposure and playing better as a team, now more than ever.

And who cares if we play barefoot and wearing no shirts? That might just work to our advantage.

Tunisia, bring your best game on – the Harambee Stars and the Kenyan fans await you and anticipate nothing short of victory.

Posted from  Germany

eric… the team that qualifies for the world cup is the one that deserves to go. i doubt nigeria or senegal could have done better in the last world cup if they couldnt even get past second tier african teams, let alone the best teams in the world. and to max…the fifa rankings are nonsense. if you ask me, tunisia is ranked about 20 places too low. we tied the third best team in the world last month and we didnt make that big of a deal of it because we knew we had the talent to play with them. what has kenya done lately? lost to iran? ok..keep dreaming.

even if we take all of the european based players out of our team, it would still be our domestic players…who play for the best teams in africa, in the strongest league in africa against your kenyan league players with a couple of european based players in there. my point is…we’d still win.

Posted from  United States

hope they wont poison our food or something like that or maybe voodoo:O

Posted from  Netherlands

We played Iran with players from our home league and no professionals, and yes, the rankings are nonsense – we should be ranked much higher.

And ignore Dennis Oliech, Macdonald Mariga and Patrick Oboya at your peril…

As I said, this is a discussion I have had with fans of the so-called first tier teams, and my hope is your team comes to the cauldron that is Nyayo Stadium with the same mindset as you do.

On aggregate, you have a more experienced and better exposed team, but many such teams come here missing the important elements of respect for their opponents and are caught by surprise at the size and ferocity of our home support, and just how much better our team is than they thought.

LOL @ tounisi…
No, no… nothing like that . We just aim to out-run, out-think, out-play, out-jump, out-shout, out-everything your team and supporters.

But they will recieve a very warm welcome and great hospitality throughout their stay (except at the stadium of course, which will be a battlefield;) )

Yea but there’s no element of surprise anymore Max. Our coach told the press from day one that Kenya was a very good team and he noted that you went undefeated at home in the last round of qualifying. We don’t underestimate you so that’s no longer an advantage. Only thing worrying me is altitude but even so, our boys will fight their hardest.

Posted from  United States

Btw, is Hey going to recall the Mathare United players?

Posted from  United States

Rami can you tell me what the selection is from tunisia u 21.They play versus France B,right?

Posted from  Netherlands

Tounsi, as much as your comment may aim to be on the funnier side of things, I think it is laced with ignorance and contempt, which has no place here in level-headed comments about the world’s greatest sport.

We are one of the most welcoming and hospitable people anywhere in the world. Yes, sure…we have our societal problems, as does any other country. However, we are fair in our sportsmanship and Tunisia will be accorded the respect they deserve on and off the pitch.

I still think the element of “underestimation” is on our side. Especially with comments such as Thamer’s. I agree that pound-for-pound, your players may be more experienced and playing at higher level & more progressively competitive sides & leagues. However once the game kicks off, to drag in an old cliche, football is a funny game…

Posted from  Germany

like rami said, our team isnt going to go to kenya expecting to win 5-0. they know exactly how hard they will have to work to beat kenya, so this element of surprise that you keep on talking about is worthless. if there is any underestimating going on here, it is of the tunisian team by the kenyans…talking about only focusing on jemaa? i hope you do focus on jemaa, so that you leave allagui open to score a hat trick.

Posted from  United States

I think the match will be great, you cannot know who will win, only when the match comes. Of course we would both like the team we support to win, but its not like that. Only two days till the match Btw is it going to be shown on tunis 7 and at 2:00 pm?

Marwan- It is not going to be shown on Tunis 7 but it will on ART, and hope issam chaouali will do the play by play.

Here is a great preview Rami wrote for saturdays match

http://goal.com/en/news/89/africa/2009/03/26/1176248/world-cup-qualifying-preview-kenya-tunisia

May the best team win! I think it will be a great match and we always appreciate banter from level-headed, reasoned guys like Thamer and Rami.

@Rami – The Mathare players have been kept out. It seriuosly limits our options, as Mathare is one of the top teams in our league, but i still think we have enough to put on a performance.

Who is between the sticks for the Eagles? According to reports, you have been having quite a lot of changes in terms of goalkeepers?

Just dont understand why Tunisia after being in so many world cups…just dont perform…perhaps we are better off as Africa with one timers who really fly the African flag

@Mundo – for a long time, African teams at World cups have been generally much weaker tactically than their opponents and have been more-or-less carried by one or two players eg. Milla for Cameroon and Diouf for Senegal.

However, recent performances in friendlies eg. Tunisia v Holland, and more exposure to European, South American and Asian leagues for African players is slowly changing this, and closing the gap between Africa and the rest of the world’s elite.

We also have better trained local coaches in our domestic leagues, and this should see a massive shift in power in the world of football.

I have attended all the home games of the Kenyan team and i can assure all and sundry that it will be impossible for Tunisia to get a win here.while we were able to qualify for this phase againist a background of several problems, this time the preparations could not have been better and there is genuine hope that we shall make it to South africa in 2010,and if not the mantra is “Aim for the stars and if you do not make it you will land in the clouds”.

the last time Tunisia played Kenya in Nairobi, they did that in an empty stadium (thanks to their CAF connections) against an uninspired team that was already out of the running. Tunisia players will keep looking at the stands and the sky wondering if this is the same team, same country;

Great game! I think we put up a good fight and dominated possession, but in the end, the experience and composure of your team just gave you the edge. Congratulations!

Posted from  United States