Posts Tagged ‘Aymen Abdennour’

2013 Cup of Nations Preview: Tunisia

Posted: January 11, 2013 by Dante in Afcon 2013 Previews, Africa Cup of Nations 2013
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Far away from the luxurious resorts which kiss Tunisia’s Mediterranean shore, the humble youth of Tabarka gather in the city centre on a hot summer night. The youngest children run, laugh, then cry. Elder gentlemen stroll idly, wrestling with relevant issues of the day. Somewhere in the distance a Bob Marley cassette lazily rolled on. But in the middle of the city lay a weathered tennis court. In it, thirty or so of the city’s finest footballers had assembled for a nightly match.

I had previously attended European, African and American football matches of the highest calibre, but I am yet to witness better football then on that warm night in Tabarka. It would be useless extolling the skill, technique, or tempo of the match, for words would not do it justice. But it was clear that football ran through the very veins of the Tunisian people.

Watching the Tunisian national team is similar to watching a pick-up match in Tabarka. One is to see clever interplay, flashy skill, close control and masterful technique. One would also most probably see porous defending, shambolic keeping and tactical indiscipline.

Notwithstanding their defensive woes, Tunisia remain highly entertaining. One would do well to follow the Carthage Eagles during their Cup of Nations campaign.

Disappointing 2012

Tunisia’s trip to Gabon/Equatorial Guinea was quite predictable. The North Africans began well, decisively defeating their Maghreb rivals Morocco. Tunisia then skipped past decrepit Niger and went on to face hosts Gabon. That final group match was quintessentially Tunisian. In the opening 20 minutes, the Gabonese hosts could barely hold the ball. The Carthage Eagles were all over their opponents, prompting the enthusiastic Arabic commentator to make an ambitious, and entirely predictable Barca comparison. But Didier Ovono sealed all roads to the Gabonese goal which led to the inevitable. In the 61st minute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang found space and fired in a tame shot at keeper Rami Jeridi who somehow let the ball lazily bounce over his feet. Tunisia lost first place and went on to face Ghana where yet another goalkeeping blunder forced a deflating exit in the quarter-finals.

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50 of the Best African Players of 2012: 30-21

Posted: January 3, 2013 by Salim Masoud Said in African Football, Africans Abroad
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30. Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseille/Ghana) – In the Ayew household, football has always been a family matter. Andre’s father, Abedi Pele, was a veritable Ghanaian and Phoceen legend, so it was only fitting Andre follow in his footsteps. In Gabon/Equatorial Guinea, Ayew scored 2 goals, goading the Black Stars to the semi-finals. Ayew also maintained his respectable scoring record, netting 12 goals for club and country this calendar year. Bayern, Inter and Arsenal are all reported to have scouted the protege, but he remains faithful to Marseille for now.

29. Papiss Cisse (Newcastle/Senegal) – Known as “Toumboule” (The Effective One) back in Senegal, Cisse was particularly effective in the first half of the year as he assimilated seamlessly into English football after his transfer from Freiburg. Jetting in straight from Senegal’s shock early Afcon exit, Toumboule executed myriad finishes with frightening aplomb, notably a scorcher against Chelsea which, rumour has it, was so breath-taking that pharmacies reported an upsurge in demand for asthma inhalers. He hasn’t been so effective in the second half of the year, occasionally being deployed on the wing to accommodate Demba Ba, but the departure of his compatriot may just see him reawaken with his mojo. With 16 Premier league goals during 2012, only Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero and Luis Suarez scored more.

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SFG European-based African Team of the Season

Posted: May 24, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in African Football, Africans Abroad
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It’s been a momentous season for African footballers in Europe, especially the strikers. Have a collection of African strikers enjoyed a better season in Europe? Probably not; Arouna Kone scored so much that Levante had to abstain from playing him to avoid triggering a clause which would have seen him return to his parent club; Emmanuel Adebayor reached double figures in goals and assists; Yakubu’s goalscoring chance conversion rate (29%) was only bettered by Papiss Cisse 37% – which is incredible, considering Blackburn were eventually relegated; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came of age, embarking on a goalscoring streak of 14 goals in 26 games; Seydou Doumbia froze Russian league defenders with his right-place-right-time sense in front of the net; and, of course, Didier Drogba’s insatiable performances in big games were vintage. I could go on. But this isn’t about merely strikers. To the business at hand:

Goalkeeper: Boubacar Barry (Lokeren/Ivory Coast)

African goalkeepers seem to be in short supply in Europe. Richard Kingson has faded into obscurity, Carlos Kameni rarely played for Espanyol in the first half of the season and played second fiddle at Malaga following a January move, whilst Guy Roland N’Dy Assembe floundered in mid-table with Nancy even though he has shown genuine talent at times. The straightforward choice, then, was Ivorian Boubacar Barry who remains the number one choice for Lokeren and added a Belgian Cup medal to his medal collection this season as well as scored goals.

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Atsuto Uchida shines, Mahamadou Diarra fully returns

Posted: March 19, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in Africans Abroad
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Each week our team will attempt to watch a few matches around the world and then write something resembling a ramble or review. This won’t be a round-up of who scored, we’ll actually be watching as many games as possible involving African and Asian players, and any other players, really – (after all, everyone is from Africa, if scientists are to be believed!) – and we will then report back our findings. We will endeavour to do this weekly but some weeks it may not be possible.

Uchida shines for Schalke

I’ve watched a lot of football matches this past week but none have come close to being as entertaining as the Europa League clash between Schalke and FC Twente on Thursday. With the match televised on ITV4 and it being the Europa League,  I had low expectations, but the beauty of football is you should always expect the unexpected. After Twente taking an early lead, Schalke needed to score 3 goals to overturn a two-goal aggregate deficit and progress into the quarter-finals.

It was a gigantic task, but they did it with a swashbuckling 4-1 win. Aside from Robin Van Persie, there is another Dutch striker who ‘scores when he wants’ in the form of Klaas Jan Huntelaar. The klaasy (sorry) striker has scored 38 goals in 38 games this season, scoring a hat-trick on the night with some emphatic finishing. One of the stars of the show, though, was Japanese right-back Atsuto Uchida. After an uncertain first half, he battled through the second half and controlled the right-wing with Jefferson Farfan, putting in a tireless shift of defensive astuteness and productive forward runs. It was his smart reverse pass which found Raul Gonzalez who cleverly back-heeled for Huntelaar to finish off another chance.

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Ghana v Tunisia: The Battle of the Counter-Attackers

Posted: February 4, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in African Cup of Nations 2012, African Football
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Tunisia versus Ghana promises to be the most fascinating quarter-final, tactically. Don’t hold your breath, however, for promises are often broken. This promises to be a fascinating encounter because both of these sides are predominantly counter-attacking sides.

Will Ghana come out?

Being the favourites, the onus will be on Ghana to take the game to Tunisia. However, taking the game to the opposition is the exact problem the Black Stars have been facing since the 2010 World Cup. Since the success of the counter-attacking strategies at the 2010 Cup of Nations, where they reached the final, and the2010 World-Cup, where they were a Luis Suarez handball and Asamoah Gyan missed penalty away from reaching the semi-final, they have been unable to change from counter-attacking team to a more dominant team.

Why should they change what’s been working? Well, the disadvantage of being counter-attacking is the short-termism of it all –it only works if you’re the underdog. After a short while, opponents begin to figure you out; they’re happy to sit deep and let you attack them.

(A current example is Napoli in Serie A who were relatively successful with their countter-attacking 3-4-3 formation for large parts of last season but began to struggle towards the end the season when teams were happy to sit back, maintain their shape and let them do the attacking. Consequently,  this season they’ve been unable to replicate the form of last season. Despite that – and more tellingly, perhaps – Napoli have been successful enough to make it into the knockout stages of the Champions League where in a ‘Group of Death’ they were perhaps the ‘underdog’.)

Back to Ghana, the Black Stars are no longer underdogs and since the World Cup they’ve at times looked short of ideas and struggled to impose themselves in games due to the lack of a true playmaker in the team. Even if they go on to win the whole tournament with these tactics, it remains a problem that could cost them in the long run.

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