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Weekend Action: CA Wins, EST Demolishes ST, and ESS Held

March 4th, 2008 | By: Rami | 7 Comments »

Club Africain Handles ASC Saloum Easily in Tunis

After securing a 2-1 win in Senegal last week, a place in the second qualifying round of the champions league was virtually assured. In light of this, Ben Chikha elected to leave two midfield starters (Ouertani and Yahia) on the bench since they would be relied upon in mid week for the postponed domestic league game versus CS Hamam Lif. This match was one way traffic from start to finish for the home side that played without exerting itself much but still managed to enthrall the huge crowd that came to see them. Mouihbi scored a clever goal where he lobbed the onrushing keeper with little time to react. He’s so cool in front of goal that when he scores its bordering on the nonchalant. Later in the second half he should have been awarded his second but instead an imaginary offside was called and Mouihbi got a yellow card for continuing the play after the whistle. CA could have won this game by the score of 3-0 or 4-0 but all that matters is that they go through to face either Union Douala from Cameroon or ASKO Kara from Togo

I love seeing stade el Menzah full of fans singing in unison. Wish I was there.

Tv7-Dimanche Sport 02/03 (2)
Uploaded by SuperBeurkMan

Esperance Shows Some Style

They’ve been going through a rough period for the past couple of seasons after dominating Tunisian football for a very long time. Since Youssef Zouawi came though they’ve been racking up the wins and steadily climbing up the standings. The only knock against them (from their own fans and neutral onlookers) is that their wins have not been convincing enough and that they level of play isn’t where it should be for a team of their reputation. Consider the message heard loud and clear as Taraji went goal crazy this weekend and trounced Stade Tunisien (a respectable team that is doing very well under Robertinho). Final score 4-1 with an absolute missile from Hammi who was about 40 or 45 yards out. The Moroccan international Aboucherouane also provided his customary lefty finish. I wish I had seen the entirety of this match.

Tv7-Dimanche Sport 02/03 (5)
Uploaded by SuperBeurkMan

ESS Held in Goalless Draw

Etoile dropped some points on Sunday versus US Monastir in the Sahel derby. There’s no shame in being unable to beat Monastir, especially on their home field, but a team of Etoile’s stature will consider this 2 points lost rather than 1 point gained. Marchand’s decision to leave Ben Dhifallah on the bench along with Traoui is somewhat suspect but I’m sure he had his reasons. Amine Chermiti suffered a lot in this game and had some things to say after (his comments are near the end of the video). Maybe this attention will lead to more protection from the referees.

USMo 0-0 ESS Resume DS
Uploaded by maniak_dog

Jemaa Scores But CAEN Lose

Jemaa came off the bench this weekend against Metz and created chances before equalizing by controlling the ball effectively to cancel out a defender and then drilling the shot past the keeper. Nice goal but it’s too bad Metz had the final say in this game as they retook the lead and held it.

METZ 2 – 1 CAEN BUT JEMAA
Uploaded by jskabylie

Tags: Club Africain, Esperance de Tunis, Etoile du Sahel, Group H, Issam Jemaa, Tunisia Football, Tunisia Soccer

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Comments

By Rachid | March 4th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

Both CA and EST are going through a period of what I call “irrational exuberance.” If EST loses against l’Etoile (and I hope they do), then their chances for lifting the championship trophy will be essentially nil. For Club Africain, I think it will be a repeat of last year: close but not quite. They scored one lousy goal against a lousy team from Senegal! Why is that comforting? You don’t go far in the African Champions League by such a mediocre win! I’m trying to say that we should wait until they face real opponents to judge whether or not Ben Chikha is a genius! There has not been a real test yet. For EST, they made several changes this year; there is no reason to say the latest change has found the magic bullet! Again, we should wait. L’Etoile has mastered the game and I very much doubt they’ll give up the championship easily, despite the FTF’s latest efforts to push them in that direction by forcing them to play 5 games in 2 weeks!!! I look forward to watching this weekend’s game; see for yourselves who should be the national team’s main goal keeper!

Posted from United States

By Rami | March 4th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

Not sure if I agree with you that Etoile has “mastered the game” but you’re right in saying that they look more likely to lift the title. I’m a Club Africain fan and I’m ready to admit that. Nevertheless, Ben Chikha has the club on the right track in my opinion. They have a good string of results behind them and that 1-0 scoreline is misleading because they walked over that team (a lousy one as you say) without two of our best players in midfield. They even said they were trying to do it with minimal effort (dangerous but it worked). When it’s time to bring out the big guns they’ll be ready to perform. Also there’s more youngsters on the way who will help out a lot, Nour Hadhria and Bilel Ifa have huge futures ahead of them.

It’s going to be tight down to the end and I think Club Africain’s chances are definitely there. We’ll see what happens tomorrow when we face Hammam Lif. After you guys dropped points it’d be a a bad time to give you a break. I’m sure you’re well aware that there’s a lot of hatred between Club Africain fans and Etoile ones (or Tunis and the Sahel in general) but I’m glad this blog doesn’t degenerate into those types of pointless regionalist arguments. I totally respect Etoile and I think my previous articles attest to that. Still though, we want that title just as much as you do! It’ll be a joy to watch, no matter what happens. As for EST, I can’t see them making a run for the title. It’s too late for that I think.

By Rachid | March 4th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

Thanks, Rami. Although I’m a strong fan of Etoile, I do support ANY Tunisian team that makes it. I was very saddened when CSS lost to Ahly in Rades in 2006. I love l’Etoile, but I will strongly support CA, should they make a good run in the African Champions League. Healthy competition is good for our national team. Besides, I’ve been living abroad for so many years, I really don’t think it matters to me very much which Tunisian team is on top of their game. It’s just good enough to see A Tunisian team taking part so that we have a reason to watch!

Posted from United States

By Fahd | March 5th, 2008 at 6:20 am

Hi Rachid,

I fully agree with you. I as well am a Super fan of Elnejm I have to the last three finals traveling form Holland. I would love to see EST CA CSS etc being as unsuccessful as elnejm. Of course when we play each other my love goes to Elnejm.

Anyway I think in Tunisia we still have not an independent mind setting. Everyone can be influenced by everyone if you understand what I am saying. As long this can not be changed we will constantly encounter these stupid problems such as not having a fixed league schedule!!

Nevertheless I would like to say that it is in the benefit of Elnejm to have Fierce competition from EST CA CSS as long there is no Fraud at any case. Victory will be sweet and earned and no accusations will be valid. Also will enable each team to be very strong in continental tournaments.

Inshallah all the teams will improve and stop being enemy’s and leave the game a game.

bisllama to all.

Posted from France

By Rachid | March 6th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Thanks, Fahd. I think Rami is quite correct too: Club Africain seems to be up to something this year. They’re now 100% in the “retour” phase of the Tunisian Championship. The EST-ESS game this Sunday is quite decicive for Etoile. Next week, ESS faces CSS in Sousse and CA faces USMo in Tunis. It looks like it’s going to be down to the wire!! Very exciting stuff.

Posted from United States

By thamer | March 7th, 2008 at 3:04 am

i agree with all you guys that we should support whatever team is doing well in continental play regardless of who we support. I am an esperance fan,and however wrong it may be, i still like to see C.a. win against other african teams because overall it is good for tunisian football. Besides, many people overlook the fact that C.A. has enourmous potential for our national team, their average age must be something like 24 years old and with young talent like ben yahia, mouihibi, dhouadi, hadhria, ifa, and souissi, it will only benefit our national team in the future. I really hope yahia goes to europe soon, hes incredibly talented and i think the time is right for him to move.

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By togo dog | March 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 am

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