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Tunisia
Yassine Chikhaoui is Killing it at FC Zurich
Comments(14)I’ve talked about this kid before but with the way he’s playing right now he’s forcing me to come back and make him the centerpiece of another post. Chi5a took to the field with his team against their rivals Zurich Grasshoppers and didn’t waste any time in making his mark as he scored a beauty of a goal in the first minute of the game. FC Zurich ended up winning by the score of 4-0 and are currently at the top of the table. Back to the goal though: Taking the ball from the halfway line and flying past helpless defenders with such poise and confidence is truly remarkable. It almost looked like the Grasshopper players had forgotten the game started. The video is available below and I’ve posted another one which has the previous goals Chikhaoui has scored in the FC Zurich colors. It’s truly awesome to see him making his mark in Switzerland right now. I just wish that he’ll be able to replicate this form in the national team jersey in the near future. We really need him to be in top form at the African Cup if we hope to make an impact in January. Keep it up Chi5a!
Hey Thamer, I was just listening to sport express on Mosaique FM and they said something about rumors of him going to Bayern Leverkusen in December so it looks like you may be totally on point with that prediction. Didn’t expect this kind of talk to happen so quickly but with the way he’s playing its not that surprising. He’s really tearing it up this year for his club. He’s the main attraction at FC Zurich and his teammates love him. I read on a Tunisie Foot forum that Today the whole team won’t drink water during training out of solidarity for Chikhaoui who is fasting during the month of Ramadan. What a gesture!
Here’s some extended highlights of the match. Not the best quality but its all I can find at the moment.
Posted from 
United States
The kid really looks exciting. Tunisia can get to the next level when their kids grow up to be what they can be. The only better youth right now is Cote d’ivoire. I know you saw Yaya Toure destroy the Lyon game. That was magical.
But I can’t go on without highlighting the beautiful senegalese soundtrack to his goal.
You’re welcome
Posted from 
France
he scored another one today…kid’s on fire.
Posted from United States
He really is… this wasn’t just a simple tap in either. a delightful little chip to totally fool the keeper. very nice. here’s the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPuavkl7vIo
Posted from United States
he scored yet another one today. and the second goal was scored off a rebound from his backheel flick which hit the post.
also…
The 21-year old Tunisian has become an instant success in the Swiss league following his summer move from Tunisian giants Etoile du Sahel. Forward, who signed a five-year contrat with FC Zurich, has been one of the team’s most outstanding players in the early season which brought the interest from several European giants including Ajax and Bayer Leverkusen. Chikhaoui has impressed with superb skills and sharp finishing and is seen as one of the candidates to replace Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who is expected to leave Amsterdam next summer
Posted from United States
Nice find Thamer. Where would you (and others) rather see him end up? I still can’t decide but I’m leaning towards Ajax. They have a great reputation for forming players. Plus the team has fallen on some hard times recently with back to back champions league disqualification. If Chi5a could be the one to lead them back to their glory years then it would raise the profile of Tunisian football and everyone would benefit. Plus I really want their new away jersey (the blue one). If he goes there in the transfer window then I could get one with his name on it! I see his transfer happening next season though. It might be better for him to dominate the Swiss league for an entire season (he’s currently the leading scorer) and then go somewhere else to continue his progress. If he stays at Zurich too long it could do more harm than good. The guy needs more challenges eventually. This year is great for his confidence though…Here’s a report from Swiss television (its in german) on Chi5a and how he copes with playing during the holy month of Ramadan. I didn’t get all of it but you can decipher what they’re talking about…
http://www.dailymotion.com/sa7li1968/video/5147833
Posted from United States
yea, i also saw the “documentary” on him and ramadan. he seems to be getting a LOT of attention in switzerland. I’m not sure if he is leading scorer or not. I have seen a source that says he has 8 goals, which would make him leading scorer, but fc zurichs official site credits him with only 7, tied with teammate raffael. The problem is that one of his goals, i think the 2nd or 3rd one was a header which hit the post and bounced back off the goalies back and went in. zurichs site credit him with an assist for that goal, which would give him 5 for the season(team high). on zurich’s site i beleive in every game except for one, chikhaoui was voted man of the match by the fans, so thats encouraging. but yea, i would like to see him at a big club like ajax. i mean, i’d prefer to see him at a big club in england where he would get more attention and it would be easier to follow him, but ajax is certainly nothing to complain about.
P.S. i dont know if you were going to write a post about this, but as im sure you know, belaid scored a brace last week and was voted man of the match in a league game.
Posted from United States
yea, I read about Belaid’s exploits in the last league game but never got around to posting about it. very impressive but i’ve been mad busy as I’m traveling and starting a new job this week. thats why there’ll be no updates for a few days. Shouldn’t last too long though, once I’m adjusted and get used to the new working rhythm my posts should return to their previous frequency. Also, we’ve been instructed not to post from a certain time on tuesday until thursday. The site is getting a much needed makeover and posting during that interval could screw things. I don’t wanna be the guy stands in the way of the update! Looking forward to seeing what the new sexy worldcupblog looks like though. I’ll probably go on some bloggin binge once its happens 
Hi all
There was no update here for a while. i was reading on otehr blogs that chikhawi got an offer from Bayern Munchen for 9 million euros.
I hope you keep this blog and keep the good work
Posted from 
Germany
Hey Nabil, check this post I put up two days ago.
http://tunisia.worldcupblog.org/group-h/chikhaoui-watch-arsenal-contacts-fc-zurich.html
So it looks like Arsenal is interested as well. Them and practically every big European Club are now trying to sign him for next year. Really incredible. Thanks for the support and sorry if you checked and didn’t find updates. I’ve been more focused on the club world cup recently… The focus will be shifting back to the national team as the African Cup approaches. Already I’m pretty sure the list of players for Ghana comes out Tuesday.
From now on if you want to be sure to catch the latest updates go to the home page for the blog at:
http://tunisia.worldcupblog.org/
Thanks for the support my friend!
Posted from United States
you guys stop talking about the kid he’s nothing more than an average player.
Posted from United States
whatever dude, maybe you don’t know much about the kid or haven’t seen enough of him. he’s not a superstar but he’s well above average. you wait and see, he’s about to prove you wrong in the coming years.
Posted from United States
[...] Gojko Kacar has looked good. And he’s got a great track record for spotting talent, such as Yassine Chikhaoui, at FC Zürich. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being an Arsenal fan, it’s [...]
Posted from United States
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this guy is really something else. zurich wont be able to keep him for more than another year, if even that long. our team looks really bright for the future with youngsters like chi5a, jemaa, belaid and haggu in the team. hopefully some more domestic talent will go to europe, i.e. ali nafka, chermiti, saber khalifa, dhaoudi, wissem ben yahia. some clubs in tunisia have so much young talent waiting to be unearthed, especially sfaxien and club africain. if we can get some of these guys into stronger european leagues, we really could be a force in 2010.
Posted from
United States