Tunisian football teams settle in for Cup quarter-finals

2008-05-16

The last of eight teams qualified this week to compete in the Tunisian Cup football tournament. Espérance is expected to be a strong performer following a failed run at the league title.

By Mona Yahia for Magharebia in Tunis – 16/05/08

[ftf.org.tn] The list of contenders for the quarter-finals of the Tunisian Football Federation's Tunisian Cup was narrowed down to eight on Wednesday (May 14th).

The field of quarter-finalists in the Tunisian Cup football tournament was completed Wednesday (May 14th), with CS Hammam-Lif, Espérance, ES Sahel, and CS Sfaxien joining previously-qualified Stade Tunisien, El Gawafel Sportives de Gafsa (EGSG), ES Hammam-Sousse (ESHS) and Club Olympique des Transports.

Competition kicked off Sunday as Club Olympique des Transports delivered a surprise victory over Union Sportive Monastirienne. In a suspenseful match, Espérance managed a win against CA Bizertin just one minute before the end of regulation time. A direct penalty by Khalil Chamam led the young Espérance player to score his team's second goal. Espérance is fighting fiercely for the Cup title, particularly since their hopes were dashed of winning the national league title.

CAB coach Moktar Tlili confessed his team had committed two fatal mistakes against Espérance. "During the second half," he said, "we changed our strategy and managed to control the centre, and launch attacks that culminated in the tying goal. But the misplaced wall, at the time when Espérance had a direct penalty kick, caused us to suffer a decisive goal at a fatal time."

Carlos Cabral, Espérance coach, said: "We had a forceful start, and manifested our superiority with an early goal. We thus had things under control and were relaxed all along. If it were not for [our] impatience, we would have scored many goals throughout the first halftime. Although CAB’s change came at a crucial time, my sons had faith in their abilities and their luck and eventually managed to qualify in the nick of time."

CS Sfaxien crushed Stade Gabèsien with a 3-0 victory. The first goal was scored by Aymen ben Amor in the 14th minute, the second by Blaise Coassi in the 77th minute, and the third by Hamza Younes in the 89th minute.

ES Sahel – seven-time winners of the Tunisian Cup – had an easy 2-0 win over ES Zarzis. ESS captain Majdi Traoui scored a goal in the 29th minute, and so did Bassam ben Nasser in the 44th minute.

CS Hammam-Lif bought themselves a meal ticket to the quarter finals, much to the chagrin of CS Sfaxien, with a 3-1 victory.

On Sunday, Club Olympique des Transports, who won the title in 1988, shoved off Monastir 4-3 in a penalty shootout, after extra time ended in a goalless draw.

Six-time Cup winners Stade Tunisien, meanwhile, crushed the hopes of hosts Djerba with a 2-0 victory.

Gafsa pushed aside 2004 title-winners ES Zarzis with a 3-1 victory. Hammam-Sousse, which secured a place in the CLP-1 this season, also managed to climb to the quarter-final over Hilal Masaken with a 2-1 victory.