World

Africa

Tunisia

Tunisian Clubs Aplenty in CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage

July 27th, 2008 | By: Rami | 20 Comments »

What a weekend. Going into it, we knew that at the very least we would get one representative in the group stages of the Confed cup since Etoile and Esperance were playing each other. However, I’m proud to report that we got the maximum possible through and three of our teams are through! With no one figuring in the higher rated champions league, it’s imperative that this title stay in our country.

ESS Holds off Esperance in Menzah

Tembo Etoile managed to keep it’s two goal advantage from the first game intact despite Esperance dictating most of the tempo in this match. If Taraji had managed to make good on one of their early chances things might have been different. I was actually hoping for them to get one in just for entertainment’s sake because it would have livened up the encounter. Esperance didn’t lack effort, just the final touch and some better concentration in front of goal by Khelifa in particular.

Their fans were in fine form, singing throughout the entire encounter and never letting up for more than 5 minutes. Meanwhile, what was impressive about Etoile is the fact that they looked well organized despite missing some of its most important players. Decastel incorporated a lot of new faces and still had them looking like they’ve done this before.

Lineups:

EST : Mejri, Jabeur (Youssfi), Chammam, Z. Derbali, Yaken (Badra), Hammi, Darraji (Bouazzi), Aboucharouane, Ettayeb, S. Khélifa, S. Derbali.
ESS: Mathlouthi, Sako, Béjaoui, Jmel, Ben Mohamed, Felhi, Abdennour, Ogumbiyi (Ben Dhifallah), Tembo (Ben Nasr), Gilson, Bukhari.

Some things we can take away from this match:

- I never knew Radhouane Felhi could play as a defensive midfielder. I’ve seen him in right back and center back but he filled in admirably for Moussa Narry with his timely tackles and intelligent positioning on the field. If he keeps showing this type of versatility I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave for a foreign adventure after this season.

- Aboucherouane might have played his last game for Esperance since the negotiations between him and Sheffield United are in their advanced stages. You could tell he wanted to offer up a fine performance as he was eager to get the ball and made himself available to receive it throughout his time on the field. He didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet though. I guess his magnificent Cup final double will have to do! Bes of luck to him if he gets the deal signed. We’re gonna miss that Moroccan left foot!

- Coelho was talking about Arbi Mejri recently and the Esperance goalkeeper showed why yesterday. For the most part he displayed great positioning and presence. This is reassuring for fans of the blood and gold who have seen Kasraoui’s playing level fall off in recent outings. In Mejri, he has some serious competition!

- There was a non whistled penalty by Jmel on Darragi…

- Besides a flare up when Bukhari was sent off for his second yellow, the players showed good sportsmanship.

- First time I’ve seen Tembo Fayo of Zambia in action and I don’t think it’s too early to say that we have a player on our hands.

- Chermiti looks to finally be set for his Hertha unveiling (should be Tuesday). A post about this past due news will be coming soon.

Holders CSS Make an Impression

Since this game kicked off when the ESS-EST one was finishing up, I only got to see the majority of the second half. What I saw was enough to assure me that CSS will be much more competitive in the Championship race then they were last year. The Arab Juventus made a statement yesterday and I think everyone heard it loud and clear. One game can’t tell the fully story but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this was very encouraging for Sfaxiens. Ben Amor, Soumah Naby, Blaise Kouassi, stood out in the absence of Opoko. Ghazi Ghrairi is doing something like. The more teams we can get challenging for a domestic title the better so this is a welcome sign of life from the Southern Capital.

Also is it weird that I find myself admiring their jerseys? Kappa really hooked them up! I’m CA through and through but I’d rock one of these CSS jerseys in a hurry if I didn’t have an affiliation to respect. Same goes for ESS actually (that one during the Club World Cup was crazy nice, Tunisie Telecom sponsor). Ok, a little off subject but I just had to touch on that.

- No Gharbi in this game. He’s in France getting tested by Grenoble. I’ve read that he’s making a good impression. Best of luck to him.

Lineup:

CSS : Khalloufi, Bouzidi (Tafa Bâ 65’), Aymen Ben Amor, Karim Ben Amor, Mechergui, Hammami, Bnouni, Jaber (Bergaoui 80’), Souma, Koissy, H. Younès (Dominique)

Club Africain Squeezes Past Djoliba in Bamako

Didn’t see this one since the Malian channel which was supposed to show this match ended up showing a horse race being attended by the Malian president. The sad part is that I watched it on mute as I listened to Malian radio coverage of the game. The sadder part is that the Malian radio coverage would skip to this race for long segments so I’d be sitting there twiddling my thumbs and reading (and contributing) to the Tunisie Foot forums. Seems that everyone was getting a kick out of the fact that in between horse races there was also some Karate, Wrestling, and Arm Wrestling… Anything to entertain a president right?

All that matters in the end is that CA advances. Djoliba played very well in Tunisia and I was not entirely optimistic going into this one especially since our starting goalie, Adel Nefzi, was out injured. What’s funny about that is that his replacement, Saber Ben Rjeb, turned out to be the man of the match by saving one penalty in the second half and another in the shootout at the end of full time. Well done!

CA created some solid chances in the first half (about 3) but Ben Chikha told his boys to ease up a little in the second so that they wouldn’t tire before the 90 minutes were out. The counters weren’t working as well in the second though so we ended up playing for the penalties. It can be dangerous to do that but the gamble paid off.

Early reports indicate that Dhaouadi played very well, Mouihbi was his usual dangerous self, and Ifa held things down on the left side (nice to know he can fill in back there even though he’s a right back primarily). Since I always like to mention the influential players our teams are missing, it’s only fair to the opposition to indicate that they were missing their best midfielder, Coulibaly. Glad he didn’t take part in this one. The Malian announcers kept talking about how much his absence showed.

Pictures here. Pretty cool Stadium they got there in Bamako.

Lineup:

Bérjéb, Souissi, Ifa, Bachtobji, Hmam, Ouertani, Ben Yahia, Sellami (Awadhi), Junior (Ghaném), Dhaouadi (Rhifi), Mouihbi

Here’s how the groups look from here on out:

Group A:

CSS (Tunisia)
CA (Tunisia)
Interclube (Angola)
Haras Houdoud (Egypt)

Group B:

ESS (Tunisia)
Al Merrikh (Sudan)
Ashanti Kotoko (Ghana)
JSKabylie (Algeria)

So I don’t think this is the masterful weekend review post that I promised after my last mishap with Gmail but at least I didn’t lose this one!

May the Tunisian domination of the Confederation Cup Continue!

Tags: Arbi Mejri, CAF Confederation Cup, Club Africain, Club Sportif Sfaxien, Esperance Sportive de Tunis, Etoile du Sahel, Group H, Saber Ben Rjeb

Tunisia World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:Tunisian Clubs Aplenty in CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage

digg:Tunisian Clubs Aplenty in CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage

newsvine:Tunisian Clubs Aplenty in CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage

reddit:Tunisian Clubs Aplenty in CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage

fark:Tunisian Clubs Aplenty in CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage

Y!:Tunisian Clubs Aplenty in CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage

stumbleupon:Tunisian Clubs Aplenty in CAF Confederation Cup Group Stage

Comments

By Abdullah | July 28th, 2008 at 12:20 am

Nice article rami, and i was watching the same thing on sopcast channel kooora tounsia how boring was that

3 teams advance wow:D now lets hope they achieve the most they can!

Posted from Netherlands

By julien | July 28th, 2008 at 10:58 am

Nice post.

Posted from United States

By Moni | July 28th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

Yo Rami,

do you know why esperance have the same shirt for 80 years ?
Ore do they pay money to Nike for that qrap kit they have ?
B T W do you rember they where playing in a kit from Atletica ?
Is it a tunisian brand ?

Posted from Netherlands

By Yassine | July 29th, 2008 at 7:02 am

I was in El Menzeh Stadium Saturday, we had a calm game despite the usual provocations from both supporters. But I was surprised when you said that EST fans were singing throughout the entire game. I expected them to do that but they didn’t because they were displeased with their team’s performance, they even booed them at the beginning of the game. Etoile fans used that in their favor and the most singed chant was “Jabri el 3asma saket”.
Chermiti’s transfer to Hertha Berlin is confirmed. He assited the match too with Mohammed Ali Nafkha, Dhaker Essbou3i (Handball) and Noureddine 7fayyedh (Volleyball). I was thrilled to see them together closely. I wanted to get a picture with Amine but the cop refused to open the gate. I managed to take an awful quality picture with a cellphone.
Chermiti was really nice and pleasant, chatting, smiling and agreeing to take pictures.
Good Luck to him.

By Rami | July 29th, 2008 at 10:38 am

Thanks Julien. Abdullah that’s funny you were watching that race as well. So frustrating but I could still see the humor in it and I’m glad you could too.

Moni, Esperance’s sponsors have changed but the shirt hasn’t deviated that much from it’s classic look. I don’t know if they pay money to Nike, that would seem to go against the whole idea of a sponsorship deal. Nike is likely giving them free (albeit slightly outdated) equipment and jerseys. The template for that Nike jersey is not new as far as I know. I heard it’s not high quality when you get your hands on it. I remember Atletica, it is a spanish company but the thing about Tunisia is that there are so many knockoffs and “le faux” (as opposed to “le vrai”) that you don’t really know what is what unless you feel it in your hands or so it in front of you. If it’s something like Adibas or Abidas though you can tell just from the name

Yassine, congratulations to your team first of all. Glad you had a safe time at the game. As far as the songs go, maybe my ears were playing tricks on me? I could swear that I heard “al3ab ya taraji nchallah zina…” and other songs throughout. maybe it was only one section of the crowd that was close to the cameras or mics… I think the Esperance fans go pissed towards the end right because they kept getting chances but not scoring. At the beginning there was hope and as it faded I think their attitude changed. Thanks for the clarification though buddy. Sorry you didn’t get a pic with Amine. Contract still isn’t signed but it should be later today. That’s what I heard on mosaique.

By Tamim | July 29th, 2008 at 11:06 am

hey rami, u guys should do sth quick. we are setting a blog for el ahly annd a new blogger will ntake over from at zamalek blog. also we have a new mido blog.

By Rami | July 29th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Yea man, ideally it would be great to have Etoile, Sfaxien, Club Africain, and Esperance covered in the club section. Our big four are definitely worthy of having their own dedicated blogs. Plus there could be blogs for Chikhaoui, Chermiti, Mouihbi, Haggui etc. I don’t think I have time in my own schedule to do that so I try to cover all of these at the same time as best I can.

If anyone wants to set up a blog guys just send an email to Daryl at daryl@theoffside.com and tell him what team you’d want to cover and why…

Posted from United States

By Abby | July 29th, 2008 at 11:37 pm

Hey, Rami, any news on what’s holding up Chermiti? You’ve got me all excited to see him in blue and white…

By Rami | July 29th, 2008 at 11:51 pm

You know Abby, I haven’t got a damn clue. In every single newspaper on Monday (and leading up to this past Sunday) it was a “fait accomplit.” Mosaique FM, a privately owned Radio in Tunis (which rarely reports false news on sports transfers and such), posted on their website that the deal was signed. Now they’re backtracking and saying its basically on it’s way to being finished but that there’s still a few things in the contract (ie, money) which need to be squared away. German reps are in Sousse trying to get it over with once and for all. These same reports put the signing today/tomorrow at the earliest and by the end of this week at the latest. This is why I’ve held off on writing my article about the move.

No need to panic though. It would come as a huge surprise if this soap opera didn’t finish with Chermiti in blue and white. He’s ready to leave and desperately wants a new challenge. Moez Driss is trying to squeeze as much money out of Hertha as he can. Can’t blame him, Chermiti is a prized asset. What sucks is that it’s gone on so long and this is the most annoying thing during the offseason when we pay so much attention to all this speculation. If all goes to plan, it should be well worth the wait though

By Abby | July 29th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

Yeah, all the German press (even the reputable ones) described it as “perfekt” and “alles klar” over the weekend, before backtracking today and yesterday, so I think it’s really the same thing. This is really the year for extremely long transfer wrangles, isn’t it? At least it’s keeping us occupied…

By Houssem | July 30th, 2008 at 6:18 am

Hey Rami

I’ve just “applied” for an ESS blog at the Offside, I hope more tunisian fans of the big 4 come across your WC-Blog and get the idea

Posted from Germany

By Rami | July 30th, 2008 at 6:57 am

Wararararararay (tzaghrita) Mabrouk ya Houssem! I’m sure you’ll get it. I’m so happy about that. Etoile is one of the biggest teams in Africa and deserves its own blog for sure!

Finally a Tunisian blogging colleague man!

By Skander | July 30th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

Keep it up for etoile houssem

Posted from Sweden

By Abdullah | July 30th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

Wow that’s nice oy you houssem, looking forward to seeing it:D

Posted from Netherlands

By Momo | July 30th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

man it feels like forever since i stopped by last time..I just got off work, I work at a Pharmacy and people that come there are literally sick people man so what i do is go home and work out so f’in hard to release all the stress then pass out..anyways it’s great news to hear CA and CSS and Etoile are all through..tough luck for Esperance (my own favorite team ) though..I hear they’re gonna play in the Arab CL, that’s probably a wise decision..just got a feeling Dhiab is behind it somehow (well he should be)..but if they wanna succeed in that competition they have to retain the star-players like Boucherouane, Michael and add one or two more big names..it’s enough to have Chaabani out (who I think was a great defender) and his move to Ankara is best proof to his greatness..Europe is not for slackers, and Turkish Superliga is one of the hottest emerging leagues (just go check out Fenerbahce’s squad list..AMAZING!!)

By Rami | July 31st, 2008 at 10:09 am

Hey Momo, I wonder how much Dhiab had to do with it since he got fired/resigned. That whole situation is really unclear to me still. That’s the way things go in Tunsiia sometimes though. Total media blackout…

I’m a fan of Turkish soccer myself. I don’t watch many of their league matches except for the Fenerbahce-Galatasaray derby but when their teams play in Europe I’m usually really happy to see it. Plus they resemble us in a lot of ways (we got that Ottoman in us- and our flag). Their fans go crazy for their national team though and right now I haven’t seen our fans do the same in a while. I guess they need a reason. Inshallah, August 20th will prove to be just that.

Some articles on the way guys. Just been a real busy week for but there’s a few things to talk about…

Posted from United States

By arachesostufo scorzè | July 31st, 2008 at 6:27 pm

ciao da venezia http://arachesostufodue.blogspot.com/

Posted from Italy

By Momo | July 31st, 2008 at 10:28 pm

ciao amico..io no parlo italiano (i hope that’s right)

grazie mille..forza italia forza juve

By Momo | July 31st, 2008 at 10:41 pm

Rami..I’m still not sure about what happened to Dhiab. I read a few days ago he’s still with Esperance, and all the news of resignation/firing were simply b.s. I guess Hamdi Meddeb is saying this as well..hmm weird :-0 I never watch Turkish Superliga matches, but Turkish football is definitely a force to be reckoned. I watch Fener and Gala in European competition..they all play a Bouazizi-style football: fight it all the way till the last breath..

By fiammaveneta | August 13th, 2008 at 9:25 am

HI! Visit my blog http://fiammaveneta.blogspot.com Have a nice day

Posted from Italy

Comments are closed