Tunisia smashes Seychelles in cup qualifiers

2008-10-13

On Saturday, Tunisia's national football team dominated the Seychelles, scoring five goals. The win brings them to round three of the African Cup qualifiers.

By Mona Yahia for Magharebia in Tunis – 13/10/08

[Mona Yahia] Tunisian striker Hichem Essifi (centre) scored the first and last of his team's five goals against Seychelles on Saturday.

The Tunisian national football team defeated the national team of Seychelles 5-0 on the Radès stadium grounds Saturday (October 11th). The teams played in the sixth and final round of the second stage of the African Nations Cup and World Cup 2010 qualifiers. The finals will be held in Angola and South Africa in 2010.

This win raises Tunisia's points total to 13, ranking second after Burkina Faso, who beat Burundi last Sunday.

Tunisians were delighted by the clean victory, especially since the Carthage Eagles have not been performing well of late.

After two ties with Angola (1-1) and Burkina Faso (0-0) in the fifth round, the Tunisian team hit the turf with an attack strategy, orchestrated by Portuguese coach Umberto Coelho.

"It has been a while since we last saw the Tunisian team perform at a such level," said football fan Farid Mahjoub. "I believe the touches of the Portuguese coach are starting to show. We hope our national team can maintain this level and achieve good results."

Khmais Batini, another fan, said that the victory is like a breath of fresh air, but warned that "we should not grow too confident. The Seychelles team is not such a strong team after all. Our team must be careful all along, and should strive to give the same level of performance."

Coelho did not field several of Tunisia's strongest players, like defender Radhi Jaidi, forward Mohamed Selliti, and midfielder Anis Boujelbene.

USM striker Hichem Essifi scored the first goal just five minutes into the game. Yassin Mikari scored the second with a ground strike in the 18th minute, and the goals continued. The first half ended with four goals for Tunisia.

"We had a great first half," said coach Coelho. "The pace was fast and I have to admit, I really admired the team's performance there. During the second half, however, our level dropped, which is natural as players were relaxed and started thinking ahead to the match against France."

The scoring came to an end in the 68th minute with a goal on a header by Hichem Essifi.

The new victory means that Tunisia booked a space in the third and final round of the qualifying games.

Elric Mateo, head coach of the Seychelles national team, thought the first few minutes were disastrous to his team, in terms of the errors and positions. That was taken advantage of by the Tunisians, who managed to settle the game early.

On Sunday, the Tunisian team headed for the French capital of Paris, where they are scheduled to play a friendly match against the French team on Tuesday, October 14th.