CS Sfaxien 2 – 1 Étoile : We’re out of it

By: Houssem | April 14th, 2009

If you ever wondered how a player could almost single-handedly crush his club’s title hopes, last Thursday’s game was probably a good illustration. The obvious culprit is of course Mejdi Ben Mohamed, aka Manga, who was picked to fill Ammar Jemal’s boots. His sloppy attempt at a clearance gave the Sfaxians a 2-0 lead in what turned out to be our worst performance of the season, and the peak of a generally poor defensive display. I don’t want to put too much blame on Manga, because the whole squad failed us that day, but I can’t help wondering how Rohr didn’t pick the promising Boulaâbi instead of a player on whose lack of quality we all agree.

This decision was only the first of many that cost us the points we so desperately needed to keep up with Espérance and Club Africain. Ahead of this game, it was sort of obvious that the Sfaxians would rest some of their key players considering the fact that they had more important stuff to deal with, like the Arab Champions League semi-final or their Cup game on Wednesday. The media did their part in spreading the news that Ghazi Ghrairi would field a squad of benchwarmers and reserve players, and we all thought it was a huge bluff. Rohr took the bait, and even had specific instructions for the likes of Karim Nafti and Soumah Naby. I bet the players were surprised to see that for once, they could take the papers’ word for it.

Our boys found themselves in front of a set of highly motivated CSS youngsters and really didn’t know how to deal with whom, since many of them were playing their first league game ever. From there on it was almost certain that the three points wouldn’t be ours, although the goals happened on individual errors, not due to an overwhelming offensive build-up or ball possession. Call it what you want : grinta, winning spirit, combattivity, the Étoile players definitely didn’t have it.

Here’s a recap of all three “important” league games of the last matchday :

TV7 – Dimanche Sport – 12/04 – (3)
Hochgeladen von SuperBeurkMan

A quick glance at the table will show you that we’re practically out of it. Club Africain’s remaining games are home against Stade Tunisien (whose last concern is the result), and away to Jendouba (serious relegation candidate, must win and wait). Espérance will be away to La Marsa (another relegation candidate) before hosting us at El Menzah in what I thought would be a decisive game for us. It still will be decisive, but we will be the spoilsports and decide who will win the title. But before that, we better not make complete fools out of ourselves against Hammam-Lif. There’s still hope, and I’d hate to see them throw it away in an easy game like that. Nobody knows what the teams at the bottom of the table can be up to. Espérance can find itself in a less comfortable position before our visit, but probably not Club Africain.

We’ll wait and see.