World

Africa

Tunisia

The Question on Everyone’s Mind

September 16th, 2008 | By: Rami | 13 Comments »

You already know what it is. Ok, ok, the picture does help… but that doesn’t take away from the fact that practically all Tunisian soccer fans are asking: “When is Yassine Chikhaoui coming back?!”

I had been considering posting an open letter to Yassine. It was going to double as both a retrospective piece, reminding everyone of his talent and what he’s accomplished so far, as well as a “where and how the heck are you?” piece. I was literally going to sit down and write it today when a flurry of articles emerged out of Switzerland. After about 5 months of complete silence, there’s finally something to report on regarding his rehabilitation.

The only problem is that this news is at once hopeful and alarming. For those who aren’t aware, Yassine underwent an operation about six months ago to help alleviate swelling in the patella tendon in his knee. Apparently, he played the entire African cup with severe inflammation. In retrospect, this actually makes his performances that much more impressive. Then again, if some people were wondering why he didn’t completely take over the tournament, this may be half the answer. The other half is that Lemerre insisted on playing him as a striker when he is most effective playing behind them and roaming freely in an attacking midfield role.

But I digress from my original point. The good news is that Chikhaoui is rehabbing four hours a day and, even though things are coming along slower than expected, he is on the way to recovery. Some articles even go as far as to say that he is aiming for a October 2nd return, when his team faces off against mighty Milan in the UEFA Cup.

The bad news is that while the initial diagnosis of the injury was that it was not so severe, they are now characterizing it as potentially career ending. While this was said in a the context of explaining why FC Zurich were being so cautious and why they were bringing him along extra slowly, the words “career ending” when applied to an individual as supremely talented as Yassine, are enough to give any Carthage Eagles fan nightmares.

While the prospect of losing our best playmaker to what was first described as an innocuous injury is terrifying, it is still way too early to start panicking. If anything, it is reassuring to know that FC Zurich are protecting their prime asset and are refusing to rush him back even though they are not off to the best of starts in the Swiss League. Plus there is a big difference between something being “potentially” career ending and it actually ending someone’s career.

It is well known that Chikhaoui is a devout Muslim who lives a life full of hygiene and humility. He is quoted as saying that his injury is god’s will which he must accept. It was “maktoub” as they say. Well, we just so happen to be in the holy month of Ramadhan, the very month where Yassine put on dazzling displays last year which awed onlookers and garnered him attention from Europes top flight clubs (Juventus, Roma, Bayern Munich etc.). Then is this not the perfect time for Zurich’s Zidane (their words not mine) to regain full strength and bring us joy once again?

No use rushing things young fella, we’ll be waiting to cheer you on as long as it takes. The big clubs (and big money), aren’t going anywhere. We’d love to have you ready to face France next month but we’ll just have to see how things work out until then.

Rabbi yeshfik ou inshallah tarja3 fi forma 3ala 9rib ya m3allem.

In Case You Forgot The Skills

Excuse the melodramatic music at the beginning. This is clearly made by an Etoile fan that still wishes Chi5a was on the team. And who could blame him?

Rapidshare Video Link

Tags: AC Milan, Carthage Eagles, Chi5a, Chikhaoui, FC Zurich, Group H, Yassine Chikhaoui

Tunisia World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:The Question on Everyone's Mind

newsvine:The Question on Everyone's Mind

stumbleupon:The Question on Everyone's Mind

Comments

By Yassine | September 17th, 2008 at 4:40 am

After Zurich’s game against FC Sion last season when Yassine made that ‘feinte de coup de foulard’ and gave 3 assists I immediately knew that he’ll be the best Tunisian player ever.
I idolized him since a 3-1 win against EST in Sousse and it kept getting better and better until the injury when I thought that it was too good to be true.
He’ll most probably come back on the 2nd of October to play against Milan in Zurich, and Coelho will call him for the France freindly
He must play well in both matches because there will be a lot of watchers.
Rabbi yeshfik ya Chikha

By Abdullah | September 17th, 2008 at 7:31 am

I agree with you Rami, i’d rather have him out a while longer than have him
back in just to see him get injured again and maybe risking his whole carreer.

We just have to relax, and hope he and his managers make the right decisions.

Posted from Netherlands

By Achraf | September 17th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Yassine Chikhaoui is my Role model. Not only is he a great footballer but he is also a great person. He is respected alot in Tunisia. You would never see him fighting with the ref or other players. He would mind his own buisness and put his anger by playing hard. I just can not wait until he comes back. It has been a while and everyone misses his play. Hey Rami how about the other injured Tunisians that missed the Burkina Faso game (chermiti, mikari, Namouchi)?Will they be ready for the seychelle game or the France game.

Posted from United States

By Tahar | September 17th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Haha I may be wrong to write this in such a moment… but that song choice is soo off… hahaha dont get me wrong dali-letoiliste is a m3alem because this video captures great moments, but the song choice hahahhaha
“ive watched you sleeping for a while, ill be the father of your child”
But I understand… hes just showing love to a player who deserves it.
In general european highlight videos have wierd music. Ive seen millions of Christiano Ronaldo or Ronaldinho videos and wondered why they were accomplanied by rave techno and lyrics like “Fly to the universe tiger of love” or some other not so cool line that doesnt make full sense in english. But then again thats just my musical taste. Im being a hater right now.
Big ups Chikha, hes in no rush. Inshallah rabbi yeshfik
As for myself… I’m off tomorrow to France where Ill be for the year. Hopefully I can report some Tunisian news for you guys from there… I already heard of Mourad Benhamida in Montpellier so thatll be close.

Posted from United States

By Rami | September 17th, 2008 at 5:23 pm

Yassine and Abdullah, you guys got the right attitude for sure. Just gotta be patient on this one. As much as I’d love him to be in the France game, if its going to threaten his career there’s just no point.

Achraf, you couldn’t have picked a better role model. He’s not without his faults (he once cursed out Jemaa in practice and was kicked out) but that’s all I’ve heard. Him and Jemaa are completely different personalities anyways (Jemaa loves to party, Chikhaoui is religious and “reglo” as we say in Tunis). I remember talking a while back on how I think that even affects their chemistry a little on the field. Over all though, you’d be hard pressed to find someone with a “hygiene de vie” cleaner than Chikhaoui’s.

As for the other players, Namouchi and Mikari have strong chance of being on the team while Chermiti will almost surely miss out. Same thing applies to him, no use rushing him. We need him in the world cup qualifying come March when things get serious.

Tahar, you’re hilarious man! I was thinking the exact same thing about those lyrics. Kinda questionable lol. I know what Dali Etoiliste was aiming for though so no harm done I don’t mind soccer videos being set to house or techno but I do see your point. Some people are really good at editing that stuff and make it really fly. Look forward to hearing how things go in France buddy. I wish you all the best and much success in your new adventure!

Posted from United States

By Rami | September 17th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

Hey this comment is directed at Fahd who dropped a comment a while back regarding prayer times in Washington DC. I tried emailing you man but for some reason it bounced back to me. Maybe the email you provided in the comments wasn’t accurate. Anyways, I found the times for you. Sorry it took so long, skipped my mind for a while. And Skander I haven’t forgotten about your request to spread the word regarding “EN Apathy.” I’ll try to get on that asap.

Here’s the link Fahd:

http://www.islamicfinder.org/prayerDetail.php?country=USA&city=Washington&state=DC

Posted from United States

By Achraf | September 18th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

I want to know why the seychelle match is going to be played in stade menzah? I think this match should have been played at sousse or sfax to change the venue to see if people would come if we play in different venues(which I doubt since they are playing seychelle).

Posted from United States

By Achraf | September 19th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

Wow! I am really impressed with Coelho! He got us a match against Czech Republic, a very strong team that played very well against USA,Italy, and Ghana in world cup 2006. The game is going to be played in february. This will be a good test for the red and white before the next round of world cup qualifiers.

Posted from United States

By skander | September 22nd, 2008 at 11:43 am

Ben Khalfallah scored a goal against St-etienne and Ben Frej scored against Nice, actually 2 goals but one of them got cancelled.

Posted from Sweden

By thamer | September 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 pm

belaid scored another brace today

Posted from United States

By Rami | September 23rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Nice, good looking guys. There’s a piece in the works that I’ll try to finish up tonight. I’ve been playing more soccer than I’ve been writing about recently! Apologies for that. Some semblance of consistency should return as I regain game fitness