First post

By: Houssem | August 4th, 2008

First of all I’d like to welcome you all on this blog which – I wish – will be a fine addition to the existing blogs on The Offside. Thanks to Daryl for setting it up, and to Rami from the Tunisia WCB for his advice.

I’m very happy to start just days before the new LP1 season kicks off, and what a start ! Two “clásicos” to start the campaign : Espérance ST – CS Sfaxien and Étoile – Club Africain (to those of you who are not yet familiar with tunisian football, think of a Manchester United – Arsenal AND Chelsea – Liverpool match day).
Étoile will be out for revenge after losing last season’s championship to Club Africain in that dramatic finish, but will have to deal with several absences : Amine Chermiti, who has just moved to Hertha Berlin on a two year loan (more to that later), the excellent Muri Ogunbiyi and Moussa Narry (respectively sold to EA Guingamp and AJ Auxerre). Besides, Ben Dhifallah and Radhouan Felhi will be missing for a third yellow card from last season (now if the FTF bureaucrats can explain THAT to me …). Let’s just hope their replacements will be up to the task.

Emeka Opara’s return from 1.FC Kaiserslautern couldn’t have been more appropriate. He was a joy to watch during the 2 seasons he spent in Sousse, and his offensive skills will be needed, since Gelson might as well leave (there are rumors about an offer from a swiss club, but nothing official yet). But other youngsters will be worth following this season, like Belgacem Toniche, Tembo Fwayo, Karamoko Touré, Mejdi Mosrati, and Sadat Bukari aka “Boumeliar”, probably Ghana’s next star if he finally achieves the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for.

In other news, the club has held its annual session today, which saw Moez Driss being reelected for two more years as chairman, assisted by Mr. Raouf Daâloul as vice-chairman. While answering the supporters’ questions, Mr. Driss mentioned the exceptional year Étoile has experienced, winning the CAF Champions League and finishing 4th at the FIFA Club World Cup, which has gotten the club a name on the international scene. He also officially announced Chermiti’s departure (now we can forget what we’ve read in the german press these last days). He also discussed the somewhat unpopular transfer of Khaled Melliti to Club Africain, and explained his wish to look towards the future with the recruitment of Ahmed Akaichi, instead of keeping a player against his will.

Good luck to Tunisia’s red devils then, and let’s hope for a “clean” season : no more violence in the stadiums, less chauvinism, and a better management by the new FTF board.