Tunisia
is a relatively small country populationwise
and compared to that Tunisian teams have had remarkable success in African
club and country football of the recent 10 years. It has been thanks to
a good organisation and thorough preperations that the talent of the smart
players from Tunisia have been exploited in a more effective way than probably
in any other African country.
A good basis had been
layed in the professional work of the Tunsisian clubs and until two years
ago apart from a few exceptions the best Tunisian players had been under
contract at home, what allowed effective preperations for the national
team especially during qualifying matches when other countries had to concentrate
to gather their European professionals somehow.
Thus the advantage
for the Tunisians in qualyfing matches has been bigger than in tournaments,
when the squads the opponents are together for a longer time and are able
to reach a higher level of organisation themselves.
Still Tunisians are
a threat especially because of their football intelligence and so were
able to reach the final 1996 and fourth place 2000.
At this Nations Cup
they face a bunch of problems. During the last two years the drain of talent
has seized Tunisia as well, and more players have turned to Europe to pursue
their careers. Whether this has enhanced their qualities or more harms
the Tunisian preperations and coherence remains to be seen.
Also Tunisia have
been searching for the perfect coach since Italian Scolgio left to rescue
his home club Genova 93 at Italy's Serie B.
Now they have appointed
Henri Michel, World Cup coach with France and Morocco, but he has had only
little time to get familiar with the team yet.
Furthermore they have
to paint a new picture in attack as Zitouni and Jaziri are missing because
of injuries and Sellimi has or has been 'retired' in favour of his club
commitments.
So look for some new
names emerging but never count the Tunisians out, they will be perfect
in spotting weaknesses of their opponents as ever. |
