African Cup of Nations Preview: Tunisia

We’re in the home stretch now, with just three days until African Cup of Nations kick off and just three teams to preview. We’ve already shook hands with everyone from Groups A, B and C and have so far met Senegal from Group D. We continue the final group with Tunisia.

Now I have to hold my hands up and admit that I don’t know much about Tunisian football. But I know someone who does, so Rami from the ever-excellent Tunisia blog has generously stepped in to provide us with some well-informed opinion on the Carthage Eagles.

There’s a coach who was once a hero but is heading towards zero, a playmaker who looks ready to hit the big time and a young striker who’ll miss the first two games through suspension. So come on in and meet Tunisia.

Nickname: The Carthage Eagles

Kits: All white with red sleeve trim (home.) All red with white sleeve trim (away.) See what they did there?

Geography: “Located on the northern coast of Africa, Tunisia has boundaries with Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east.” – The Africa Guide

History: Tunisia picked up their first and only African Cup of Nations win in 2004, and made the quarter-finals in 2006. This tournament will be The Carthage Eagles eighth successive AFCON appearance. The team also went to the last three World Cups, but is yet to make it out of the group stage.

Manager: Roger Lemerre. You know who he is. Lemerre was assistant to Aimé Jacquet when France won World Cup ‘98 on home soil. He then succeeded Jacquet as Les Bleus boss and won Euro 2000. It was all looking so very good, until he took France to World Cup 2002, lost to Senegal and got dumped out in the group stage. Understandably, he was fired. But Tunisia thought he deserved a second chance, so hired Lemerre in 2002 and were rewarded with the African Cup of Nations 2004 title. Lemerre was a hero in Tunisia, but as with France his adulation was short lived. I’ll let Rami explain:

Rami says: The manager’s propensity for picking a completely different lineup in every qualifier and friendly haven’t helped with on field chemistry. The list of his blunders is too long to cite and this has made him very unpopular in Tunisia. A disappointing quarter final exit from Egypt 2006 and a poor showing in the ensuing World Cup where we employed overly defensive tactics have seen him rapidly fall from grace after he was hailed as a hero for leading us to the trophy on home soil in 2004. No matter how we do in Ghana, it is practically impossible to imagine him staying after his contract expires following this tournament.

FIFA World Ranking (December 2007): 47th

Expectations: Seems Tunisia are capable of mounting a challenge for the trophy, but with several recent problems (below) and the tournament being away from the more familiar North Africa, the Carthage Eagles won’t be anywhere near as fancied as last time out.

Rami says: Even with all the odds stacked against us and a coach who could be our biggest handicap, our players have a winning attitude when it comes to African competitions and we could see a repeat of the 1996 scenario when we had a terrible build up to the tournament but came together as one when the real deal started, pushing all the way to the final where we fell to South Africa on their territory. Though I hope I’m wrong, I think a Semi Final finish is as far as we’ll go. Looking ahead, this team is shaping up to be favorites for the 2010 title in Angola as this young generation is one of the finest we’ve ever produced. Experience gained in Ghana will only help in that regard.

Pros: In Yassine Chikhaoui (pictured) Tunisia have the player most likely to catch the eye at this tournament. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder/striker only made the move to Europe last summer, joining FC Zurich in the Swiss league. But with all due respect to the Swiss league, he’s finding that a little too easy and the bigger clubs are already circling. Video of Chikhaoui, plus Rami’s thoughts on the player can be found below. Nineteen-year-old striker Amine Chermiti is another plus. Powerful, quick and skillful (see video below.) He’s suspended for the first two games, but will return for the final group game against Angola. In the meantime, Tunisia can turn to Brazilian born Francileudo Silva Dos Santos, who may be out of form but has an impressive strike rate of 20 goals in 34 appearances for Tunisia.

Cons: I’ll hand this straight over to Rami…

Rami Says: We are in the midst of a rebuilding period of sorts as we’ve lost a number of prominent players to retirement (Hatem Trabelsi, Ali Boumnijel), injuries (David Jemmali, Hamed Namouchi), lack of playing time at club level (Haykel Guemamdia, Adel Chedli), misfortune (Tijani Belaid), and Roger Lemerre’s questionable coaching decisions (Zied Jaziri, Karim Nafti, Selim Benachour.)

What is more worrying is that our preparations haven’t been too convincing either as the FTF failed to secure friendlies against Morocco, Egypt, and Iran (in fairness, these teams’ federations didn’t make the task any easier on us). All we’ve played is a game against Namibia, two games against Zambia, and two against second division Tunisian league teams.

Player to Watch: Here’s a little taste of what Yassine Chikhaoui can do…

Rami says: Bayern Munich target Yassine Chikhaoui is showing game after game that he is capable of making us forget all these mistakes with his dazzling dribbles, immaculate passing, and field vision that has seen him draw comparisons to none other than le maitre Zizou. We’ll go as far as he takes us.

Other Player to Watch (eventually): Teenage striker Amine Chermiti caught the eye at the recent Club World Cup, where he scored this goal in the third place playoff game through equal parts talent and determination.

Rami says: Unfortunately the teenager is suspended for the first two games of the tournament as he was sent off in our final qualifier versus Sudan for unsportsmanlike behavior. Despite this, if we make it to the second round he will be relied upon heavily as our Brazilian born striker Dos Santos is yet to rediscover his goalscoring form. Chermiti is fast, determined, and a proven winner at club level.

Team Blog? If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that Rami keeps us on top everything via the Tunisia blog.

Fixtures: In Group D with South Africa, Angola, Senegal
Tunisia vs Senegal (Tamale, 23rd January, 17:00)
Tunisia vs South Africa (Tamale, 27th January, 19:30)
Tunisia vs Angola (Tamale, 31st January, 17:00)

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Hamdi Kasroui (Esperance), Adel Nefzi (Club Africain), Aymen Mathlouthi (Etoile du Sahel)

Defenders: Wissam Abdi (Zamalek, Egypt), Sabeur Ben Frej (Etoile du Sahel), Karim Haggui (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Yassine Mikari (Grasshopper Club, Switzerland), Seif Ghezal, Mehdi Meriah, Radhouane Felhi (all Etoile du Sahel), Radhi Jaidi (Birmingham City, England), Wissem Bekri (Esperance)

Midfielders: Chaouki Ben Saada (Bastia, France), Jawhar M’Nari (Nürnberg, Germany), Mehdi Nafti (Birmingham City, England), Kamel Zaiem (Esperance), Chaker Zouaghi (Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia), Majdi Traoui (Etoile du Sahel)

Strikers: Yassine Chikhaoui (FC Zürich, Switzerland), Silva Dos Santos (Toulouse, France), Issam Jemaa (Caen, France), Mohamed Amine Chermiti, Mehdi Ben Dhifallah (both Etoile du Sahel)

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