The Forgotten One: Guemamdia Comes Home

June 19th, 2008 | By: Rami | 3 Comments »

Confed Cup Guemamdia There was a time when Haykel Guemamdia was considered the future of our national team. A time when Hatem Trabelsi described him as the best player at our disposal. You couldn’t get away with making that claim nowadays but not so long ago, it wasn’t such an outlandish assertion.

As a striker he displayed speed, intelligence, and above all, a natural finishing ability that left onlookers awed. His tally of 23 goals in 56 appearances with Club Sportif Sfaxien and 5 goals in 14 appearances with the Carthage Eagles earned him a move away from Sfax in 2005.

Unfortunately, thats where the story takes a negative turn. Unable to assert himself at Strasbourg, Guemamdia only figured in thirteen matches with the French side. He left the club on loan without having scored a single goal in Ligue 1.

His exile has lasted three full years with stints in Saudi with Al Ahly (8 goals in 15 appearances) and in Romania (3 goals in 7 appearances). Not exactly the career path you would have charted for him when he left!

He is a prime example of when leaving for Europe goes terribly wrong. It’s unclear what caused this fall from grace but here’s to hoping the worst is behind him now. The 26 year old was due to return to Strasbourg for one more season after this lengthy spell but will instead be coming back to his former club, CSS… He is in dire need of playing time to boost his morale and this return to his roots should supply just that. The Sfaxien side showed great inefficiency in front of goal last season, resulting in a 10th place finish that left the fans so angry with management that the team president opted for resignation after being accused of putting financial gains ahead of on field success.

This latest move should please the disgruntled fans of the “Arab Juventus” and could provide the platform from which Guemamdia will regain his form and perhaps even be reintegrated into the national team. A new coach is on the way and you have to believe that everyone will start off with equal chances of making the side. This is the long awaited opportunity for him to remind us what we’ve all been missing and regain his rightful place amongst the elite Tunisian strikers. Haykel, we leave the rest to you…

In Case You Forgot…

Check out this video of his goals with CSS and the National team before that ill advised move to Strasbourg. At 26 his career is far from over. I believe he’ll bounce back and make up for lost time. Welcome back and inshallah bitwafi9 ya Haykel!

Best-Of-Gmamdia-Version-Finale
Uploaded by zitouni94

Tags: Carthage Eagles, Club Sportif Sfaxien, CSS, Gmamdia, Group H, Guemamdia, Hatem Trabelsi, Haykel Guemamdia

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Comments

By Moni | June 19th, 2008 at 7:05 pm

Yes was a really good striker, So he’s back and also Karim Nafti will be added next season.
I know Rami this has nothing to do with the subject you mentioned but do you have some info about new stadium for CSS and ESS ore is it just Rumour, Some guys at the TF-blog were talking about it in french , some sau 45 000 seaters ore 50 000 (and 2000 visitors per match ??)?
Could they modernise the sousse en sfax stadium ? ore the Chedly Zouiten stadium ? I know the tunisian way , is to buy some nice bukkets of paint, and give the stade a new white coulleur, But what I mean is BETON stadium like Rades but smaller.

http://www.worldstadiums.com

Posted from Netherlands

By Achraf | June 19th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Yea, he was a scorer, but now we have younger players at that postion that are playing very well for the national team like chikhaoui, chermiti, bensaada. So we will see how he does with CSS. THEY WILL BE A DANGEROUS TEAM THIS YEAR WITH HIM AND NAFTI. Rami any news about the national team, whether they will show it on TV or not?

Posted from United States

By Rami | June 19th, 2008 at 9:56 pm

Hey Moni, since you read the stuff on Tunisie Foot, you know just as much as me! What’s being discussed on there is all I’ve heard of. They’re making the Sousse stadium bigger I think while waiting for a new stadium to come. They’re not making it bigger in time for next season though. The rumor is Sfax will get a new stadium before Sousse will. They call it the capital of the South so I guess why they’re doing that one first. You know how things are in Tunisia, you can’t get everything at once All the teams need a new stadium in my opinion (except for the teams from the capital) but it would be dreamland to think it will happen all together. Its unfortunate because Etoile and CSS deserve new stadiums given their popularity and fanbase. Ironically there will be a new stadium built in the Tunis sports city (the Lac area). It won’t be nearly as big as Rades though (I forget about the number of seats)…

Hey Achraf, I agree that we have other players but I don’t include Chikhaoui and Ben Saada in the striker category. They’re creative midfielders that happen to score (even though Lemerre plays Chikhaoui as a striker). But you’re right about Chermiti and you can add Mouihbi to that. It never hurts to have a classic striker who is in form. Especially if you consider that injuries are always a possibility in football. You bring Guemamdia off the bench and there’s every chance for him to score a goal if he gets good service (something Chikhaoui, Ben Saada and Belaid can provide). On another note, you’re right about CSS they should be much much better next year with these new acquisitions.

All indications are this game will show on TV on saturday. I’ll talk about it more in my preview for the match that will be up tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

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