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The 24 For Nigeria: Coelho Takes A Gamble

August 26th, 2009 | By: Rami | 95 Comments »

Everyone who thought that the team we fielded against Cote d’Ivoire was essentially the one we’d be taking to Abuja is in for quite a surprise today. Coelho held a press conference and announced his roster which features no less than three players who are either completely new to the team (Mrabet, Chahed) or haven’t gotten their chance despite their talent (Dhaouadi).

If you compare it to the list from our last game, you’ll notice that the change actually isn’t as drastic as you imagine it to be (at least in terms of numbers). The nature of the additions are what will leave some scratching their heads. It essentially boils down to the exclusion of Wissem Ben Yahia (totally understandable considering his poor showings, even with his club) and Mohamed Ali Ghariani who clearly wasn’t doing enough on his side of the field to show he can trouble opposing defenses with the ball at his feet. That coupled with the addition of three new faces.

While I believe that the Dhaouadi call-up is merited, I am frustrated by the fact that it didn’t come earlier. The kid has been showing off his blistering pace and fancy footwork since the beginning of the season (really since longer than that…) and no one in the national team setup even gave him the light of day. Now we come before a crucial matchup and incorporate him.

I’m not going to complain about this too much since I think its the right decision considering we’ve shown ourselves to have no difference maker in the last two matches we’ve played and Zouheir can be that player. Although I doubt he starts… He can definitely give us some much needed help on the left wing to balance things out with the right side that has been doing the majority of the offensive work for us. He adds that unpredictability which we so desperately need.

Nevertheless, there are some real risks being taken here. I don’t know enough about Chahed to offer an insightful opinion but simply on the basis that he’s never played with us before that is rather surprising we’re calling him up for a do or die game in West Africa. It’s going to be an interesting trip for him… Not worried about Mrabet in that sense but still wasn’t even considering him as a possibility at all.

One thing I do like about all this is that Coelho has shown a willingness to try something new. You don’t win a match without making a calculated risk. I know a lot of people are just shocked by the fact that he’s still trying out players at this point and hasn’t settled on a lineup. It’s a legitimate beef but I have to say, these people shouldn’t be shocked by this anymore because if they are they haven’t been paying attention. We’ve been doing this for a while…

If this works he’ll be a genius, if it backfires we’ll all wonder what the hell he was thinking. With that said, here are your Carthage Eagles for the September 6th match versus Nigeria:

Goalkeepers: Hamdi Kasraoui, Aymen Mathlouthi, Jacem Khaloufi

Defenders: Aymen Abdennour, Sofian Chahed, Radhouane Felhi, Saif Ghzel, Karim Hagui, Bilel El-Ifa, Ammar Jemal, Khaled Soussi, Yassine Mikari

Midfielders: Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Chaouki Ben Saada, Oussema Darragi, Zouhaier Dhaouadi, Chedy Hammami, Khaled Korbi, Haythem Mrabet, Nabil Taydar, Houcine Ragued

Strikers: Sami Allagui, Issam Jemâa, Ali Zitouni

The new elements in the squad and the ones we didn’t take aren’t the only thing to talk about obviously, it’s just what jumped off the screen when I looked at it. The other thing is the measly amount of strikers. It’s a real shame that neither Lassad nor Chermiti are selectable right now… And don’t get me started on Chikhaoui! Just from the nature of the list our gameplan is clear for everyone to see. The only question that remains about it is how well will it be executed?

Listen to what Coelho had to say here.

Tags: Carthage Eagles, Group H, Haithem Mrabet, Humberto Coelho, Sofiane Chahed, Tunisia vs. Nigeria, Tunisian squad, Zouheir Dhaouadi

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 95 comments.

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By Fahd | August 30th, 2009 at 8:01 am

HI all,

I am so disappointed by he game of yesterday! WE ARE NOT ABLE TO SCORE!! What a big problem. Furthermore the Nigerians were so smart to mess up the game.

Ahhhh what VODOO can do :0)

Inshallah Marbou7a next week but I am afraid it will be a very strange entourage and hostility and crazy referee.

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | August 30th, 2009 at 8:17 am

At least Jemaa is in form http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbFdSckI9BE

Posted from Netherlands

By Rachid | August 30th, 2009 at 9:18 am

Fahd, the Nigerians are well known for those kinds of attitudes. The goalkeeper wasted way too much time under the watchful eyes of a very weak and passive referee. It was a shame! I expect worse in next Sunday’s game. Still, I cannot be so harsh on our guys; they did their best, but when the ball refuses to go in, there is not much that one can do. Etoile does not have to win them all, and this setback should not be exaggerated too much. Good luck next time!

By bassem | August 30th, 2009 at 11:33 am

JEMAA YA WELD A BLEDI GABES YA GABOUSA!!!

Posted from Netherlands

By moni | August 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

yo bassem, je komt uit den haag toch ? ik ook , maar los van de voetbal discusies, weet je geen site waar tunesische meisjes op zitten die willen trouwen ?? BNAT HALLAL s.v.p.

Sorry folks, it is in dutch, but the subject is marriage, where can I find tunisian girl, there are not many here in holland.

Posted from Netherlands

By moni | August 30th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

do any one know if Benachour played today ?

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | August 30th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

he only played 15 mins http://www.soccerway.com/matches/2009/08/30/spain/primera-division/malaga-club-de-futbol/club-atletico-de-madrid/804593/

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | August 30th, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Btw look at this bs http://www.soccerway.com/players/selim-benachour/26605/

Posted from Netherlands

By bassem | August 31st, 2009 at 5:56 am

Nee Moni sorry man ik kom niet uit Den Haag, maar maakt niet uit. Ik zou het echt niet weten man waar wat voor websites en zo. Geen idee. Ik zou als ik jou was als je echt met een Tunesische vrouw wilt trouwen, kijken of je niet een half jaar of langer in Tunesie kan blijven. Proberen iemand te leren kennen en zo….. is toch altijd beter dan internet. En oja geduld is een schone zaak niet haasten

Sorry guys on topic again.

Posted from Netherlands

By Fahd | August 31st, 2009 at 9:31 am

Yo Moni

Dacht dat jij 12 was, ben je dan niet een beetje te jong voor zoiets?? :0) als je toch doorzet wellicht dat je op deze forum iets vindt??

success met je zoektocht.

BY THE WAY I HEARD THAT THE MATCH BETWEEN NIGERIA AND TUNISIA IS GOING TO BE CANCELLED DUE TO INFLUENZA ????

Is this a hoax??

By Fahd | August 31st, 2009 at 9:31 am

http://tunesie.yourbb.nl/

By Rami | August 31st, 2009 at 9:58 am

I was away from the computer for the majority of this weekend so I’m just catching up on a bunch of news. Fahd, haven’t heard that about the game being cancelled. Where did you hear that?

Abdullah, Benachour was subbed into Malaga’s 3-0 home win over Atletico and played well from what I read. Plus he had an assist on a corner that led to a goal. Not a bad start at all, not just for Bena but for Malaga against a very good Atletico side.

Posted from United States

By Rami | August 31st, 2009 at 9:59 am

Highlights of that game. Awesome goal by Morocco’s Nabil Baha, can’t believe they didn’t call him up for their match against Togo this weekend: http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/3320679/

Posted from United States

By Fahd | August 31st, 2009 at 10:04 am

He rami,

Yesterday at ART sport it was mentioned that majority of the games in Black Africa were going to be cancelled. It is not confirmed yet by CAF.

By Rami | August 31st, 2009 at 10:19 am

Wow, I had no clue. I’ll do some more digging and see what I find when I get a chance…

Posted from United States

By Feedi | August 31st, 2009 at 11:48 am

Fahd mischien dat je mij bedoelt,ik ben 13.

Posted from Netherlands

By bassem | August 31st, 2009 at 4:48 pm

hahahah jullie zijn de topic aan het vervuilen dat zal Rami niet leuk vinden. Hebben jullie allemaal Facebook trouwens?

Posted from Netherlands

By Fahd | September 1st, 2009 at 9:16 am

Sorry mensen alles en iedereen door elkaar gehaald :0)

Rami do not worry, we just realize that a lot of the visitors of your Blog speak Dutch.

It seems there are more Tunisians around in the Netherlands than I would have expected :0)

Regards

By Feedi | September 1st, 2009 at 9:47 am

Bassam
Ik heb er alleen eentje om lid van deze blog te worden.
Ik gebruik hem niet.

Are the players of tunisia doing ramadan during the game?

Posted from Netherlands

By Rami | September 1st, 2009 at 10:34 am

Haha, not worried. glad you’re getting along hehe. Feedi, I’m not sure, I haven’t seen anything about that aspect. I’m guessing they’ll convince them not to do it and to make up the day at a later time. Not sure what the players are going to say about that…

Working on the preview already, should be a up today or tomorrow.

Posted from United States

By Abdullah | September 1st, 2009 at 12:28 pm

Cant wait

Posted from Netherlands

By Abdullah | September 1st, 2009 at 2:44 pm

Those Nigerians on the goal.com are getting on my nerves :@:@:@ , they feel so superiour even though they havent achieved NADA in the last 10 years, promise me 1 thing Rami if we qualify please make a post on this blog and goal.com with the title: ” WHO ARE THE REAL EAGLES NOW B*****S!! ” AARGH!!

Posted from Netherlands

By Nabil | September 1st, 2009 at 3:10 pm

Well most if not all of CAF look down upon Tunisian football due to our pathetic WC display from 98 onwards.

Despite having a superior ANC record and club pedigree to the likes of CIV, Morocco, Mali, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa etc zero wins and piss poor football at the last three WC have done immense damage to the reputation of Tunisian football particularly our 2002 and 2006 efforts.

Groups consisting of Belgium Japan, Saudia and Ukraine should equal second round representation for any CAF NT. Disgracefully we failed miserably not due to a lack of talent but a lack of cowardly manager i.e Lemerre,
belief and character. We have a happy to just be at the party mentality that no other CAF NT retains and it’s damn embarassing.

Tunisian football as whole needs to address the mental fragility that is rife in our NT and clubs. Once every so often we excel but for the most part when the pressure is on we fold.

By Rami | September 1st, 2009 at 3:32 pm

You’re right Nabil but that’s why we need to qualify this time around to have another chance at redemption! We’re fully capable of it but obviously there’s still a lot to address.

Posted from United States

By Rami | September 1st, 2009 at 3:33 pm

And Abdullah, I hear you but what they’re saying is a sign of weakness. They’re just super stressed and trying to cover it up as best they can. It’s better to approach the match realistically. Anything is possible. And as for that title, I might have to change it a bit

Posted from United States

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