Tunisia vs. South Africa: The Preview

Out of all our games in the group stage there is no doubt that this is the one everyone deemed our “must win.” The players agree and hopefully the coaching staff will oblige by aligning a more offensive minded team. Thankfully, it appears that this is precisely what will happen as Nabil Maaloul recently gave an interview where he reported that Mehdi Nafti, Saber Ben Fredj, and Yassine Mikari would take the stage as starters for the first time at this African Cup. That’s all fine and dandy but I have to say that it’s strange that he also says in the same breath that Dos Santos will still be in the starting lineup after his unimpressive outing against Senegal. Apparently they have “full confidence” in him. I wonder what they’re smoking…

A few articles ago I had written that I didn’t see Mehdi Ben Dhifallah starting but after the Senegal game I think that he could bring a much needed aerial threat to the team and also just give more than Santos in all facets of the offense. His presence stretches defenses while Santos just looks stranded all the time. It’s good to have confidence in our Brazilian but it’s odd to expect him to suddenly burst into form when all we’ve seen from him since 2004 has been sorely disappointing. Four years is enough to know that he’s just plain out of shape. He could still score a poached goal or have a moment of brilliance as he is a natural born goalscorer but I’m just not convinced by this decision at all. At least we can take solace in the fact that our attack should be reinvigorated with Ben Fraj and Mikari offering support down the wings. Their presence up the field should create more space in the middle and allow us to get plenty of shots on goal (something that didn’t happen against Senegal with 7 players playing in our side of the field).

I’m glad Nafti is back too as he’s very considerate with his passes and possesses a lot more experience than the players we had at his position in the first game. I think we’re going to play with only two defensive midfielders this time which is a move in the right direction. As always though, we never quite know until the list is submitted and the starting lineups are displayed on our screens. I heard on Mosaique FM’s sport express (not sure which one) that it’s possible Ben Saada will replace Issam Jemaa but it’s not certain. Some people might balk at the idea as it was Jemaa who scored our goal but I’m not totally against it as I’ve always wanted to see Ben Saada start a game and get a legit chance to show what he can bring to the team. Plus I’d be interested to see how he meshes with Chikhaoui’s game. For some reason Jemaa just can’t seem to click with Yassine (months ago they got into a verbal argument in training that saw Chi5a kicked out of the team for a little). While that spat is past them, I still haven’t seen them link up effectively. So starting Ben Saada and resting Jemaa after his hard work (remember he only just recovered from that injury) could be a good idea. Then if we lack something up top we can always have him come on in the super sub role.

As for the South Africa team I really don’t know that much about them. They’re a pretty young squad whose main concern is to be ready to hopefully make it to the next round when they host the World Cup in 2010. According to the MTN Website we’re going to pay some special attention to Sibusiso Zuma. Karim Haggui, who had a pretty good outing against Senegal, says he’s got things under control in that department.

All I know is that it’s time to show some style and win back our fans who were largely unimpressed with the tactics employed by Lemerre but quite satisfied with the result. We don’t want to go into the game against Angola with only one point to our name… even if our beloved Amine Chermiti will finally be available.

Familiar Foes

Historically we’ve had some pretty nice battles against the South Africans. They famously won their first and only title at home against us and then in 2006 we handled them easily. Seems a long time ago: Santos was scoring at will while Trabelsi and Benachour were still around to contribute one of the goals of the tournament.

Expected Lineup

GK: Hamdi Kasraoui
Defenders: Saber Ben Fredj, Radhi Jaidi, Karim Haggui, Yassine Mikari
Midfield: Jawhar Mnari, Mehdi Nafti, Mejdi Traoui
Strikers: Yassine Chikhaoui, Dos Santos, Chaouki Ben Saada

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