Etoile du Sahel takes fourth place in Club World Cup

2007-12-17

Tunisian powerhouse Etoile du Sahel ends the Club World Cup in fourth place; the Arab Champions League concludes its second group round, and Karim Benzema scores big for Lyon.

[Getty Images] ES Sahel's Sabeur Frej (right) reacts with his teammates after scoring a penelty shot against Japan's Urawa Reds. The Tunisians lost the match for third place in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel (ESS) completed a memorable run in the FIFA Club World Cup in Tokyo last week, ending up with a fourth place overall result. On Wednesday, (December 12th) the Tunisians had faced one of the world's strongest teams, Argentina's Boca Juniors, but luck was not on their side.

The Argentines took the lead in the 37th minute when a pass by Rodrigo Palacio found Neri Cardozo undefended, just three meters from the opposing goal. The setback seemed to wake up the Tunisians, who launched attack after attack on the Boca defence, but goalkeeper Mauricio Karanta was perfect in keeping the ball out of the Argentine goal.

ESS continued their aggressive brand of attacking football in the second half, but failed to counter a virtually unbreakable Argentine defence. In fact, the South Americans came close to scoring a second time when a counterattack by Palacio bounced off the pole. The match looked like it might turn in the 65th minute when Boca's Fabian Vargas received a second yellow card and was sent off the field. The leaders then had to pull back to their half of the field to defend the lead. ESS had one more promising goal attempt in the final minute with a header by substitute Gilson Silva, but the ball hit the Boca crossbar and the match was ended.

ESS manager Bertrand Marchand told reporters that he was pleased with his team's performance in what he described as a brilliant match. He acknowledged the superior skills of the Boca players, who scored one goal on two attempts; the Tunisians ended the match empty-handed despite a dominant offence and five shots on Boca's goal.

In the match to decide third place on Sunday, ESS fared no better against Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds, losing on penalty kicks. The African champions opened scoring just five minutes in, with a successful penalty kick by Sabeur Frej. The Urawa Reds' Brazilian superstar Washington equalised half an hour later, and handed his team the lead with a follow-up in the 70th minute. Amine Chermiti scored again in the 75th minute, and after a fruitless 30 minutes of extra time, the match went to a penalty shootout. This was a serious disadvantage to the Tunisians, who lost goalkeeper Aymen Balbouli to an injury in the third minute of extra time. ESS lost the shootout 4-2.

Boca Juniors went on to play in the Club World Cup final, but were defeated 4-2 by Italian club AC Milan.

The second-round matches of the Arab Champion League's group phase were also played last week. In Group B, Egypt's el-Jaish hosted Algeria's USM Alger. The match ended in a goalless draw despite the dominance of the Egyptians. In the second match in the same group, Wydad Casablanca hosted Syrian club al-Taliya, winning 3-1. It was the team's first victory in the group phase. The visitors opened the score with a goal by Sulaiman in the ninth minute. Doluyazal equalized in the 38th minute and then Wydad went ahead with goals by Hicham and Bidoudane in the 65th and 70th minutes. Alger top the table in Group B with four points, followed by Wydad and al-Taliya with three, and El-Jaish with one. In the next round of matches al-Taliya meet Alger on December 25th and Wydad host el-Jaish on December 26th.

In Group A, Jordan's al-Faisaly defeated Syrian club Al-Majd 3-1. Algeria's ES Setif defeated Morocco's Raja Casablanca 2-0 with goals by Maiza in the 31st minute and Touil in the 89th minute. al-Faisaly shares the top spot in the group with ES Sétif. Both teams have four points. al-Majd and Raja Casablanca are third and fourth with one point each.

In other news, French-Algerian striker Karim Benzema again demonstrated his tremendous prowess for Lyon. On Wednesday, he scored twice for his team's 3-0 away victory over the Glasgow Rangers in the European Champions League. Lyon has qualified for the highly lucrative Last-16 phase of the tournament, where Benzema will have more opportunities to prove his worth next spring.