Club Africain tops Tunisian Premier League rankings

25/09/2007

Club Africain continued their winning streak in the Tunisian premier league. Stade Tunisian Coach Mourad Mahjoub is expected to leave the team after losing 4-0 to Espérance.

By Nidal Abrouk for Magharebia in Tunis – 25/09/07

[Getty Images] Club Africain is now leading the rankings

Club African defeated CS Hammam-Lif 2-0 on Sunday (September 23rd) in a fifth round premier league match. AS Gabès and Jendouba Sport scored their first wins this season against La Marsa and ES Zarzis 2-1 and 2-0, respectively.

Club Africain's fourth consecutive win came after defender Walid Hichri scored in the 19th minute and Nigerian Junior Ozagi in the 27th. With this win, Club African tops the table rankings with 13 points, one point ahead of ES Sahel who has played one fewer matches. ES Sahel will play the remaining match on Thursday against Union Sportive Monastirienne (USM).

CS Hammam-Lif, who played their first match under their new coach, Habib Majri, sustained their 4th loss in a row, leaving them with 3 points in second to last place.

CA Bizertin scored their first win since the first round, with a 3-1 win over El Gawafel Sportives de Gafsa (EGSG). The match was played in the absence of fans due to penalties imposed on CA Bizertin after acts of vandalism following their match with Club Africain. CA Bizertin climbed to 6th place with 7 points, while EGSG, remained in 3rd place with 9 points after three consecutive wins. ]

Meanwhile, Jendouba Sport, who were promoted to the premier league this season, defeated ES Zarzis 2-0. The win helped Jendouba Sport climb to 10th place with 5 points. Zargis slipped to 11th place with 4 points.

AS Gabès scored their first win of the season against La Marsa. With the 2-0win, AS Gabès is tied for 11th place with 4 points, while La Marsa, who sustained their first loss of the season, remained in 7th place with 6 points, tied with Olympique Béja and USM who have each played fewer matches.

The competition's fifth round opened Saturday with a massive 4-0 win for Espérance against hosts Stade Tunisien. Espérance took advantage of Stade Tunisien's tactical collapse and defensive mistakes to flood their net. Stade Tunisien Coach Mourad Mahjoub blamed the loss on the "our defence's costly mistakes", adding that the players' morale was low after the second goal. Tunisian football circles expect Mahjoub to leave the team after this heavy loss.

In spite of his happiness with the win, Espérance Coach Cabral acknowledged that his team still had room for improvement. He said, "Our competitors were not weak, but the first surprise goal caused a turn."

The win allowed Espérance to climb to 4th place with 8 points after scoring their second consecutive. Stade Tunisien, who sustained their 4th loss of the season are in last place with one point, along with AS Gabès.

CS Sfaxien's match against Olympique Béja and ES Sahel's match against USM will be played September 27th and 29th, respectively.