Aboutaball :: About World Football

After failing to reach the World Cup for the first time in four attempts, Tunisia will be out to show the rest of the continent that they are still are force to be reckoned with at the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

Tunisia suffered the agony of failing to reach the World Cup with barely ten minutes left of their qualifying campaign. After leading the group ahead of Nigeria for the majority of the qualification tournament, they looked set to claim their fourth consecutive place at the FIFA World Cup. Indeed come the final round of matches they needed a mere point against Mozambique, or less, if Nigeria failed to claim a maximum against Kenya.

However, a late winner in Kenya for Nigeria, combined with an even later goal for Mozambique conspired to put the Super Eagles through, and leave Tunisia frozen out. However, whilst one can have a degree of sympathy for the unlucky Tunisians, their failure to reach the World Cup next summer illustrates the fact that they could be could be heading for a barren patch after so much success.

On the slump

In the initial qualification group for the World Cup, Tunisia had to rely on qualifying as one of the best runners-up, as Burkina Faso pipped them to top spot. The main reason for lagging behind stemmed from a shock loss for Tunisia to the minnows from West Africa in their own backyard. Further indication that The Eagles of Carthage aren’t flying as high as they once were came in the form of that last-gasp defeat to Mozambique, another side who shouldn’t be causing Tunisia undue difficulty.

It was only six years ago that Tunisia reigned supreme in Africa and were one of the most feared teams on the continent. Hosting the 2004 tournament, Tunisia started the competition slowly, but a quarter-final win over Senegal set them on their way and a win on penalties over Nigeria in the semis was followed up by an emotional victory over rivals Morocco in the final.

Settling back

Whilst recent observers of African football may recognise Tunisia thanks to that victory and their appearances at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups, a glance back in history indicates that success for the North African country has remained sporadic.

Their only other high note in their history in footballing terms came in the late 1970’s when they qualified for the 1978 World Cup and became the first ever African team to win a match at the finals.

Performance since their Argentine success, until the significant improvement in the mid-nineties thanks to a new generation of Tunisian footballers, has often been disappointing with their North African rivals Algeria and Morocco coming to the fore during the 1980’s. Tunisia managed just two participations at the African Cup of Nations between 1980 and 1994, the final appearance only thanks to their position as hosts, although it didn’t help them as they exited the competition at the group stage.

The arrival of the like of Khaled Badra, Adel Sellimi and Mehdi Ben Slimane in the mid-nineties heralded a new era for Tunisia, but after over ten years of service for many of the country’s best known players it’s time for them to step aside. The concern for many Tunisian fans is whether the new generation of players are going to live up to the exploits of their predecessors.

A lack of managerial stability has been another crucial factor, as Tunisia have struggled to recreate their previous good form. The dismissal of Roger Lemerre in 2008 saw Portuguese manager Humberto Coelho installed, but he was given the boot following this most recent failure. The task of leading Tunisia to Angola now falls to Faouzi Benzarti.

Nevertheless despite all of the upheaval, the 2010 African Cup of Nations is an excellent chance for the youngsters to show they have what it takes to fill the boots of arguably Tunisia’s most talented ever generation of footballers. With a mixture of players hailing from France and other European leagues combined with some locally based players, it promises to be an educational tournament for Tunisia, and their fans.

Squad

Goalkeepers – Adel Nefzi (Club Africain), Aymen Mathlouthi (Etoile du Sahel), Farouk Ben Mustapha (CA Bizertin)

Defenders – Khaled Souissi (Club Africain), Karim Haggui (Hannover 96), Radhouene Felhi (1860 Munich), Ammar Jemal (Etoile du Sahel), Souheil Ben Rhadhia (Etoile du Sahel), Khalil Chemmam (Esperance ST), Yassin Mikari (Sochaux), Bilel Ifa (Club Africain)

Midfielders – Hocine Ragued (Slavia Prague), Chaouki Ben Saada (Nice), Khaled Korbi (Esperance ST), Oussama Darragi (Esperance ST), Chadi Hammani (CS Sfaxien), Haytham Mrabet (CS Sfaxien), Mohamed Ali Nafkha (Etoile du Sahel)

Attackers – Amine Chermiti (Al-Ittihad), Zouheir Dhaouadi (Club Africain), Issam Jemaa (Lens), Youssef Msanki (Esperance), Ahmed Akaichi (Etoile du Sahel)

Players to Watch

Rugged centre-back Karim Haggui will be one of the players responsible for helping to ease Tunisia through what could be a painful transitional process. Having made his debut back in 2003, Haggui is a veteran of the 2006 World Cup, and despite only being 25 has over 60 caps to his name. A summer move to Hannover has also yielded regular first team football, after struggling to get into the senior team at Bayer Leverkusen, and should become a key member of the new-look Tunisia team.

Amine Chermiti may have struggled for his best form during a brief spell in the Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin, but the top goal scorer from the CAF Champions League in 2007 with Etoile has a proven track record. Last summer, after a miserable year in the German capital, he was loaned to Saudi side Al-Ittihad and has immediately rediscovered his goal-scoring touch. Chermiti has already expressed his desire not to return to Hertha, and with his former side floundering at the bottom of the table, it’s not hard to see why. This tournament will therefore represent an excellent chance to earn himself a move away from Hertha in the future.

Fixtures

13th Jan – Zambia

17th Jan – Gabon

21st Jan – Cameroon

Prediction

Tunisa’s placement into Group D has been relatively kind to them, and their stiffest test may well come in the shape of Cameroon in the final group match, by which time Tunisia will have hoped to have qualified. They would nevertheless do well not to write off Gabon in particular, so the second group match could also assume significant importance in terms of the outcome of the group. Whilst it would still be a shock if Tunisia failed to find their way out of the group, anything more than a quarter-final appearance would probably exceed pre-tournament expectations.