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Surprisingly Stylish Tunisia Unable to Score in Accra

November 20th, 2008 | By: Rami | 52 Comments »

eagles This game is somewhat bittersweet in that it was a great performance that no one got to see live. TV7 never got its act together to get the rights on time so most everyone who was interested listened to it on the radio. However, after reading multiple match reports, listening to technical analysis, and watching the match highlights, I can safely say that our players delivered an above average performance considering the long list of absences.

The remodeled team, which included three players making their Eagles debut (Ifa, Allagui, Saihi), dominated the proceedings in the Ghanaian heat and easily could have won the game by a wide margin. Sure Ghana hit the crossbar once and had some threatening moments but they were few and far between when you compare them to our sustained pressure throughout. What is most positive about the result is that it came away from home (and not just anywhere, in West Africa where we will face Nigeria away next summer) and our players showed great understanding, movement, and creativity. Not bad for a team made up of players who were largely unfamiliar with each other.

The Joga Bonito that we’ve all been waiting for is finally starting to take shape. I found myself just smiling adoringly at my computer screen when I saw the fluidity and range of our passing in midfield. The link up play that was virtually inexistent under Lemerre was on full display. Interesting that we’ve started gelling when everyone least expected it. Much of it has to do with the fact that our coach and the new players he has called upon have revived our lost fighting spirit. All that everyone keeps talking about is the passion we played with. We always looked emotionally drained under Lemerre so it was very refreshing to see our guys battling tooth and nail for every 50-50 ball and coming out on top more often than not. Hell, even Kasraoui looked confident reading the trajectory of high crosses (something he has struggled with mightily throughout his career).

Pessimists will point to our inability to finish off a game that was ours. Optimists will tell them to appreciate our interplay in midfield and incisiveness attack. Realists will tell you to think about both. Personally, I couldn’t be happier with this match. It has nothing to do with the scoreline but rather the way in which we approached the match, our attitude and style throughout it, and the players we discovered during it.

Notable Performances:

- Sami Allagui didn’t get on the score sheet but his acceleration and cleverness really bothered the Ghanaian defense which seemed much more error prone than usual.

- If anyone every had any doubt about Bilel Ifa’s ability to hold his own against his elders, this match is your answer. It’s not every day you look up and see Stephen Appiah facing you on the left side but Ifa was as safe as money in the bank (nevermind the financial crisis :P).

- Wissem Ben Yahia, who may be Bundesliga bound this winter (Werder Bremen and Arminia Biefield are trying to nab him), finally pretended he was wearing a striped CA jersey and came up big time and time again. He nearly opened the score in the 6th minute when his left footed shot hit the post. Undoubtedly his best game for the Tunisian NT. May it continue!

- Issam Jemaa usually mixes the good with the bad and this game was no different. His speed and left footed cannons are always an asset but his inability to recognize when it is time to pass and when it is time to shoot remains frustrating. In his defense though, he gave Selliti a caviar pass that should have sealed the deal. Speaking of Selliti…

- Selliti is either unlucky or he is just unable to score when he plays at international level. First the miss in Burkina and now this one which is even more flagrant. He’ll try to forget that one quickly but I doubt anyone is going to let him. Missing from five feet out in front of an empty goal doesn’t make you too many friends!

- Zitouni did ok by most accounts but we still expect much more from him if he is to have a chance to start on this team. This is especially true when Chermiti and Santos are fit and healthy.

- Seif Ghezal captained the team admirably and made some great clearances when we needed him. He’s always been a leader and this game showed that he has the respect of his teammates.

- Nafkha had his best game in an Eagles jersey. Some wonderful lobbed passes and nifty dribbles from the Etoile starlet.

- Darragi was part of the wave of substitutions in the second half that really shook things up. His passing, dribbling, and field vision set him apart from run of the mill midfielders. I’m sure more than one European team is tracking him.

- Saihi played out of position but played a correct match. Nothing spectacular but he’s a nice option to have.

- Ragued remains a Coelho favorite due to his focused aggression. It’s nice to have him with our lionheart Mehdi Nafti out.

- Anis Boussaidi looks like he’s overtaking Ben Frej as our starter at right back. I honestly didn’t think that could happen. It’s up to SBF to get out of Coelho’s doghouse and ball outta control to reclaim his place in the starting eleven.

- I said it earlier but I’m going to finish on it again because I really didn’t expect it: Kasraoui kept a clean sheet and actually made some fantastic saves!

I guess change doesn’t just come to America huh?

YES WE CAN!!!

ps: I am aware that I am painting quite a rosy picture here. Don’t let it fool you, there’s plenty of improvements to be made and tons of work ahead of us if we want to qualify for South Africa 2010. However, it’s comforting to see that we are finally on the right track. Let’s keep it that way!

Highlights: Download or Streaming

In Other News

- USMo striker Hichem Essifi is getting tested at Havre this week. Could be a positive move for the player Tunisians call “The Hulk.” I’ll let you guess why…

- No word on why Ben Saada didn’t travel to Tunis and then Ghana for this match. He turned his phone off and hasn’t been heard from since. No good Chaouki, no good. Hopefully he has a valid reason. I doubt it though…

Tags: Bilel Ifa, Group H, Humberto Coelho, Jamel Saihi, Oussama Darragi, Sami Allagui, Tunisia vs. Ghana

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 52 comments.

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By moni | November 28th, 2008 at 12:05 pm

Lemerre is a good coach Rachid , believe me , he would turn morocco into a top squad , we also had an era of good offensive play 4-2-2 with lemerre lets not forget that

By skander | November 28th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

Moni do you mean Chaker Zouaghi??

Posted from Sweden

By Rachid | November 29th, 2008 at 3:36 pm

Some viewpoints on our foreign based players:
http://forum.kooora.com/f.aspx?t=13181022

By Achraf | December 5th, 2008 at 3:07 pm

Coelho and his assistant Mejri will travel to watch three players with Tunisian desecent. Yohan Benalouane is one of them who is 21 years old and plays for and starts for AS Saint-Étienne and plays defense. We are already familiar with Fabien Camus because Mejri was planning to attend his matches but Camus did not play. He is 23 years old midfielder and plays for Charleroi in Belgium. And finally Aïmen Demai, who is 26 year old defender and plays in germany for Kaiserslautern. His mother is tunisian. These plays seem very good after watching some clips and looking at stats. I can see that Coelho is trying to bring depth at the defensive side with our starters all set, especially needing depth at left back behind Mikari. Hopefully these players will play well in front of Coelho and Mejri.
http://www.infosfoot.net/fr/articles/article.php?id_article=1228

Posted from United States

By thamer | December 5th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

apparently, demai has already played for algeria, so its “hahkaia fargha” as we say. its not a big loss though as we have a strong defence now. benalouane is very good though, if we could get him to commit to us, it would be great.

Posted from United States

By Fahd | December 6th, 2008 at 4:03 am

Just something else for fun :o)

Just somehttp://www.paranarecords.net/tunsi%20page.htm

regards,

By Achraf | December 6th, 2008 at 11:24 am

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! CHERMITI IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WATCHED THE AND HE GOT IN THE 77TH MINUTE, EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN’T GET MANY TOUCHES, HE STILL MOVED WELL. VERY HAPPY TO SEE HIM BACK. NOW LETS WAIT FOR CHIKHAOUI.

By Lazar | December 6th, 2008 at 3:01 pm

fabien camus is tunisian?

By Rachid | December 6th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

AbouCherouane not good enough to play for a Saudi team? What’s wrong with this picture??? I notice most of the talented foreign players that leave the Tunisian championship to go after big money in the Gulf States do not succeed. The examples are numerous, but I really don’t know why. Any ideas?

http://www.yallakora.com/arabic/news/Details.aspx?id=65774&Catid=1&region=

By Tamim | December 7th, 2008 at 7:46 am

kol 3am wa antom b7′eir…..happy eid isa!!

By thamer | December 7th, 2008 at 3:52 pm

belaid was voted best player of the first half in the czech league…nice

Posted from United States

By Achraf | December 7th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

Looks like Sfax’s stadium is starting to get worked on and would have a capacity of 40,000. Looks like this would be a good way to draw fans for the national team instead of having to play at Rades everytime. Tunisia looks like they might even be building more and probably host some african cups in the near future.
http://www.tunisiaonlinenews.com/2008/12/02/city-of-sfax-will-soon-have-its-olympic-sports-city/

Posted from United States

By Achraf | December 7th, 2008 at 6:14 pm

also after the good news of the return of Chermiti, Saif Ghzal and Yassine Mikari did not play in their matchs due to injury. Saif had a knee operation and will be back January 5th and Mikari had surgery on his thigh and will take 6-8 weeks recovery

By Skander | December 8th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

Moore good news, Santos scored 1 goal for sochaux yesterday in their match against Monaco which ended 1-1

Posted from Sweden

By Achraf | December 11th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

even more good news, Khallfallah is back practicing againg now lets wait to see when he will get in a game again.

By tounsi | December 13th, 2008 at 12:36 pm

need some NEW FRESH NEWS!!! ??????

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | December 14th, 2008 at 12:17 am

Hertha won 4-0 yesterday, did chermiti get some playtime?

Posted from Netherlands

By Skander | December 14th, 2008 at 5:32 am

He didn’t Abdullah, and neither did santos but ben khalfallah went in during their game, so he’s back.

Posted from Sweden

By Moni | December 15th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

what up guys , aid kom mabrouk , I know its too late , but better late then never.. Any one of U , Have Info about Chikhaoui ???

Did they cut his leggs of ore something ? Because I remember him walking and playing football

Posted from Netherlands

By Yassine | December 16th, 2008 at 7:30 am

Chikhaouiwasn’t eve on the bench last sunday vs Vaduz
Zurich won 1-0
Fakhreddine Galbi, former player of Monastir, wasted a golden chance in the last minute.

By Rachid | December 16th, 2008 at 8:52 pm

It seems our European-based players simply fade away! Where the hell are they? I read a very sad story in a newspaper about Traoui. He was somebody with l’Etoile, now he’s been made nothing in a no-name Austrian team. Again, how does any of this so-called “ihtiraaf” help our NT? It has been defined as insanity to keep doing the same thing and expect different results!!!

By Abdullah | December 17th, 2008 at 7:42 am

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein.

But good point you have there Rachid, i just hope Coelho doesnt lose his cool and starts making mistakes, just hope that he will allways choose the fittest and best players there are available…personally i dont care if its a european-based player or tunisian-based player.

And is there any word on camus and the other players they went to see in europe?
Sami Khedira is doing pretty good at stuttgart…maybe we should approach him (if that hasnt been done yet).
He made two great goals this week and one of them is currently the voted the best goal this playweek in the bundesliga http://www.megavideo.com/?v=V698QLXC

Allagui is also doing great with Greuther Furth, they won 3-0 against ahlen and he had a couple of chances and made a couple of assists but suprisingly didnt score this match.

http://www.goalsarena.com/video/german-2.-bundesliga/14.12.2008-greuther-furth-3-0-ahlen_en.html

Posted from Netherlands

By Rami | December 17th, 2008 at 10:19 pm

I saw the Khedira goals live and was very impressed by the second one especially. Immaculate technique on the volley. He’s half Tunisian half German but not eligible to play for us. Even if he was, he’s stated his desire to represent Germany before.

In other news: I’m alive in case the blog inactivity led you to think otherwise. Sincere apologies for this. It’s been a really crazy month with lots of ups and downs. Hope you can take that at face value and realize that I’m still very much here and planning writing more in the future. Only thing is, after all this craziness at work and in my social life, a much needed vacation is around the corner for me. I’m spending xmas in Paris with family and then new years in Tunis with friends. There’s one hiatus article in the works inshallah that will be up before I leave on Tuesday but I just wanted you to know that for the next few weeks I probably won’t be updating that much (you’ve probably gotten used to it by now

Never thought I’d go a month without writing on here but things have been slow for the NT and fast in my life. There’s always things to talk about though and I feel bad for not being here to spark more discussion. Really sorry about that and hope you understand. Things will pick up again, I promise. Anyways, not trying to be melodramatic but just wanted you all to know that I appreciate everyone coming back and offering their own insights even when I’m slacking. You guys have been keeping it alive so thank you!

Never got to say it but better late than never I guess: Eidkoum Mabrouk!

Just a few things to note regarding the comments I’ve been reading:

- Traoui’s situation is messed up but Coelho said in a press conference a while ago that he is trying to find him a club Portugals first division. Coelho values the balance that he brings to the midfield. All you have to do is look at what Traoui did in the Burkina Faso game when he replaced the injured Mouihbi. We were getting dominated but his intelligence in possession and smart passing allowed us to stay in the game and retake a little of the midfield that we had completely surrendered in the first half. I’m with Rachid on the expats. People gotta start thinking about their careers instead of jumping at the biggest paycheck without thinking about playing time. I’m not saying none of them want to play but smarter decision need to be made. Zaiem’s situation at Partizan is really saddening to me also. He’s completely fallen off the radar.

- The FC Zurich president has said that Chikhaoui will be back in January for sure. I get the feeling that this is actually going to happen… It would be fantastic news for the NT ahead of our friendly versus Holland in February. Chikhaoui still hasn’t even had a single practice with our new look team and coach. Gotta happen soon before our qualifiers!

- Chermiti could get some good playing time in Hertha’s must win UEFA cup match in Greece. Voronin is out. Plus Pantelic could be headed to Tottenham. This is all good news for Amine and us.

Hope everyone is well!

Posted from United States

By Achraf | December 18th, 2008 at 3:04 pm

Hi Rami good to see you back. I saw that Belaid played full 90 minutes in the uefa with his club slavia praha vs Ajax. I am still looking forward to see if chermiti plays for hertha later this afternoon. You should be a bit more busier with the transfer window opening. and i am looking forward to chikhaouis return.

Posted from United States

By Achraf | December 19th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

Impressive win for lens. 2 tunisians scored in the game lens vs brest. Issam Jemaa scored the first in the 15th minute and alaeddine yahia scored the second in the 56th minute.

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