As soon as the coach of the Tunisian national team, Al-Mundhir Al-Kabeer, announced, on Friday evening, a first list of 18 players who will start preparing for the finals, pending the announcement of ten other players, the football scene witnessed widespread controversy and violent reactions, against the background of excluding a number of elements that were in A week ago, she led the Carthage Eagles team to the final round of the Arab Nations Cup (Qatar – FIFA 2021).
Al Mundhir Al Kabeer drew a first list of 18 players; Among them are four goalkeepers, Farouk bin Mustafa, Ayman Dahman, Bashir bin Saeed and Ali Al-Jamal, and eight defenders, Ali Maaloul, Ali Al-Abedy, Muhammad Amin bin Hamida, Hamza Al-Mathlouthi, Wajdi Kashiraida, Muhammad Dragher, Bilal Aifa and Muntasir Talbi.
The list included six midfielders and attackers, namely Issa Al-Aidouni, Muhammad Ali bin Ramadan, Essam Al-Jabali, Hamza Rafia, Seif Al-Din Al-Jaziri and Ghaylan Al-Shaalali.
These players will enter an indoor camp that runs from Sunday, December 26, and ends on the thirtieth of the same month, the day when the names of 10 other players will be revealed to complete the final list of 28 players.
in the storm
Before the final list was announced, the coach of the Carthage Eagles national team, Mundhir Al-Kabir, was subjected to a violent and unprecedented attack on social media and in most media outlets, due to the exclusion of players that many see as worthy of representing Tunisia in the “CAN 2022”.
Ferjani Sassi, midfielder for Qatari club Al Duhail, and Youssef Msakni, captain of the Qatari national team and player for the Qatari club, Al Arabi Club, as well as goalkeeper Moez Hassan, were excluded, all of whom were essential in the recent Arab Cup finals, which sparked a wave of widespread anger in the football arena, while critics say that The reasons for exclusion are ambiguous.
The fans criticized the technical staff of the Carthage Eagles, saying that his choices in the initial list were completely wrong, as evidenced by the absence of the most prominent pillars that contributed to the team’s brilliance and achieving remarkable results in the recent Arab Cup.
The media also considered that the failure to announce the full list of players who will participate in the “Al-Kan” hides a lot of suspicion and ambiguity and reveals a state of confusion within the technical staff.
While most of the teams participating in “Cameroon 2022” announced final lists of 28 players, the Tunisian team formed the exception by announcing only the names of 18 players, a factor that increased the anger in the football arena.
Thousands of Club Africain fans attacked the team to which goalkeeper Moez Hassan, the coach of the national team, Mundhir Al Kabeer, and the president of the Football Association, Wadih Al-Jaree, accusing them of complicity in the exclusion of the goalkeeper, who, according to them, was the reason for the Carthage Eagles team to reach the Arab final.
Moez Hassan had received two goals in the final round of the Arab Cup against Algeria, and a number of analysts considered that he bears the responsibility in both, especially in the second goal when he left the goal vacant while he came down to support the attack.
When the goalkeeper was absent, the Algerian striker, Yassine Brahimi, succeeded in exploiting the empty goal, after a counterattack, and scored a second goal that decided the victory of his country. On the other hand, a number of other analysts saw that this error does not at all justify the decision to exclude the goalkeeper from participating in the continental finals.
Unclear landmarks
For his part, Adel Al-Sulaimi, assistant coach of the Tunisia national team, said in media statements that the final list of the team was not clear, saying that there is enough time to determine the final choices and announce who deserves to be in the “Cameroon 2022” finals within the next few days.
Al-Sulaimi said in statements carried by the weekly newspaper “Al-Akhbar”, “The invitation will be sent to those who are more worthy to participate. The choices will take into account the players’ physical and technical readiness and the extent of their adaptation within the group.”
On the other hand, the former player of the Tunisian national team, Farid Shoshan, criticized the initial list of players, stressing that “the great coach of Mundhir is nothing but a person who carries out the orders of the president of the Football Association Wadih the Bold, adding that “it is clear that the squad witnessed the injustice of many players and the courtesy of others.”
Shoshan, who reached the 1996 African Nations Cup final with Tunisia, told Sky News Arabia, “I think that the great coach of the national team, Al-Mundhir, lost control of the group for the benefit of other well-known parties. It is clear that the absence of several names raises several questions, but it is certain It is that this list is not his (coach) choice.”
‘positive step’
Shushan added in his interview with the site, “Nevertheless, I think that the absence of Youssef Msakni and Ferjani Sassi was a positive step, in my opinion, because it was proven that they did not provide much for the team. The opportunity must be given to the young men within the Carthage Eagles team with a new coach capable of imposing his personality in the middle of the group.” ”
Tunisia will compete in the first round of the African Nations Cup in Group F alongside Mali, Gambia and Mauritania. It will start its matches against Mali on January 12, 2022 before meeting its Mauritanian counterpart on January 16, provided that the Gambia team will conclude the first round matches on January 20 same.
Before participating in the next edition of the “CAN”, the Tunisian team holds a record, by attending 15 consecutive finals, from 1994 to 2022 without interruption, which no other African team has achieved.
Tunisia previously won the African Nations title once when it hosted the tournament in 2004 and beat Morocco (2-1) and reached the final on two occasions, in 1965 and 1996.
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