TUNISIA VICTORIOUS IN FIRST ROUND OF LG CUP

May 30th, 2006 | by: Bessam |

Tunisia has handily defeated Belarus 3-0. (Yes, the same team that defeated England2-1 last week, though I know one of Belarus goals against England was when their goalie just got horrifcly injured. ) Im not ready to say Tunisia is better then England but I would love for both to play in the World cup again!

Hamed Namouchi (35 min penalty), Francileudo Santos(48 min) and Issam Jomaa(90 min) all scored

Notes: Karim Haggui was sent off in the 88th minute for 2 yellow cards which means he wont be available for the final against Uraguay, who defeated Libya 2-1 earlier in the day.

*Jomaas goal may have been a involuntary handball

*Tunisia dominated and most attacks by Belarus were snuffed out by Jaidi and Haggui

*Jaziri was fouled in the box for the penalty. He was very active during the match and helped creat Santos’ goal

*Nafti who has recently returned from injury played the first 45 minutes and the Tunisian team only used 3 subs

*This clearly shows that Tunisia know how to play as a team and to carry out their gameplan on the pitch. Each player is solid and together as a unit they really can perform well. Hopefully more performances like this will follow.

*Players used against Belarus:
Boumnijel – defense: Trabelsi (captain.), Jaidi, Haggui, Ayari – midefield:Mnari, Nafti, Namouchi, Chedli – strikers: Santos, Jaziri. subs , Jemmaa, Essidiri, Bouazizi

MORE about the June 2 Final match vs Uraguay to come soon

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http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/world-cup-friendlies-rewind.html World Cup Friendlies Rewind – FIFA World Cup 2006 – World Cup 2006 Blog

[...] Tunisia 3 – Belarus 0 Tunisia is another team I have going through to the round of 16 and fortunately the Carthage Eagles are looking good. The team has virtually no injury concerns at the moment and played a solid match against Belarus. Hamed Namouchi, Francileudo Santos and Issam Jomaa notched the goals. Keep an eye out for Santos. The Brazilian-turned-Tunisian can play. [...]
Hafiz Qayib

CONGRATULATIONS TUNISIA!

A convincing win over Belarus was a confidence booster, especially important after Ukraine’s cruising to victory over Costa-Rica 4-0 and considering that Belarus’s style of play is somewhat similar to Ukraine’s. To score three against a solid team like Belarus is no mean feat.

But, my Tunisian friends, let’s not get carried away by this win. Belarus is no Ukraine in terms of strength. It is an average or below-average European team that finished next-to-last in qualifying in European group 5 (behind Italy, Norway, Scotland and Slovenia). Their leader Alexander Hleb, although called for the game, sat on the bench throughout play.
Last week Belarus won England Team B (not an official friendly). In Tunisia, they may have lacked motivation and “just happy to be there.”

For now, Tunisia must concentrate
on its preparations and use the momentum to hit the ground running come June 14.

And good luck also with Uruguay in the LG Cup final. The world
will take notice, I am sure.

GO TUNISIA!!!
Matt

Bessam,

I notice that Namouchi took the penalty in the match. do you think he’ll be the penalty taker in Germany?

Matt
http:http://tunisia.worldcupblog.org Bessam

Hafiz, you are right, we should take the Belarus victory for exactly what it is and shouldnt blow it out of proportion. Forgive me I get carried away like a kite in the wind with pride and happiness .

Matt, Namouchi took the penalty and it is my thinking that there is a 2 fold reason for this.

1. It lifted his confidence, it is his first International goal for Tunisia, and gave the coach Lemerre, a chance to see him perform under a little pressure as it was the first goal of the match

2. There will be times perhaps in the world cup where we have a penalty shootout. We need players that have experience and it was a way to allow Namouchi to score from the spot. As you may know Tunisia lost to Nigeria in penalty shootout in this years african nations cup quarterfinal. Not because of bad goalkeeping but because of bad penalty kicks.
Saudi64

Oh wow you won Belarussia at home. If you want to know the real strength of Tunisia you should be playing tough teams in neutral land, or you guys playing the WC at home?
http://gafsa.4t.com Samir_crown

Ok the tunisian warm up LG cup couldn’t give the real face of the tunisian team because the invited teams aren’t as strong as Ukraine and Spain, let’s say that they are like Saudi Arabia but we didn’t play only against S arabia then show our strong defense against the others.. no one can win Ukraine and spain with defensive formation even with an italian defense..
I hope that Tunisian Team show his real effort in the coming games…
Hafiz Qayib

I understand you very well, Bessam. I would have done
the same!

And have you seen the Ukrainian blog today: they already talk of
a Tunusian threat!

GO TUNISIA! And after that, GO UKRAINE!
fadhel

I realy Hope that the tunisian player. go and do more than you are expected to do,because time has come to reward the pepole that made of you wat you are.rmemeber your moyhers,immagine the hapyness you will bring to a nation that supoted you all the because they need some hapyness,because as you maye know.happyness is difficult this to get hold of this days
good luc and alahmaak
http://tunisia.worldcupblog.org Bessam

Yes fadhel, Hopefully Tunisia brings happiness to all the supporters and will even gain more fans from foriegn countries. All the players are playing for glory and thats why it is so special
marouene

Hey saudi 64! We saw what Saudia is able to do in neutral countries ; it lost all the freindly games only one victory against Togo! Give samuel eto some billion dollars so he could play with Saudi in the WC.