News

Hatem Trabelsi

Why Tunisia need to progress to the second round

Of the five African teams that have qualified for this year's World Cup none have caused as much misery as Tunisia.

They were the first African team to win a game at the World Cup in 1978 when they beat Mexico 3-1 and legend has it that the reaction in Mexico to the result was so bad at the time that there were a spate of suicides.

Tunisia qualified for the right to go to Germany by drawing 2-2 in their final game against Morocco in Tunis. This will be their fourth World Cup appearance. Having never ventured beyond the group phase of the finals however, the million dollar question is can they progress to the second round.

One of Tunisia's key players is Bolton Wanderers' Rahdi Jaidi who is the northern club's defensive rock. Reflecting upon their performances at the 2002 World Cup he said: "I played in every game but we did not do well. We lost to Belgium and Russia and drew with Japan, not great results for us." Jaidi said the reason the team did not do well in 2002 was because the then coach Henri Michel walked out on them at the eleventh hour scuppering a good opportunity to progress.

Brazilian-born striker Francileudo Dos Santos is another of their key players. He scored important goals which helped Tunisia to win the African Cup of Nations for the first time in 2004 on home soil and has etched his name in the hearts of the supporters for years to come. Always a threat upfront Dos Santos has scored an impressive 17 goals in 27 games.

Adding to the team's strength is a player who needs little introduction: defender come mid-fielder Hatem Trabelsi.

Trabelsi features regularly for Dutch giants Ajax and has competed in the Champions League and at one time was linked with a move to Arsenal.

The man behind the resurgence of Tunisian football is their coach Roger Lemerre who holds the distinction of being the only coach to have won both the European Championships and the African Cup of Nations.

According to Jaidi: "The important thing is we now have stability in the squad. This is pretty much the same group of players that won the Nation's Cup two years ago and we feel we are getting better all the time. He [Lemerre] also has experience of major tournaments, like Euro 2000, so knows what is required for success."

Tunisia is grouped with Spain, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia and Jaidi is confident they can qualify. He said: "It is a good group for us compared to some of the others. The expectation is that we can get through. It is logical for us to succeed".

The other four African World Cup qualifiers are: Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Angola.

Published: 04 May 2006
Issue: 1216

site comments powered by Disqus