World Cup 2010

Mozambique 1-0 Tunisia: Marvelous Mambas Stun Carthage Eagles

Mambas secure an African Cup of Nations place at the expense of the Carthage Eagles World Cup dream.

Nov 14, 2009 3:09:29 PM

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Tunisia came into their Group B away match versus Mozambique knowing that a win and win alone would guarantee them a place at next summer’s World Cup in South Africa without relying on the help of Kenya who would be facing off at the same time against ticket rivals Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Mambas, who haven’t lost a match at home in close to two years, still had everything to play for on their end considering that an African Cup of Nations place was within their grasp.

The necessity of a positive result led Carthage Eagles coach Humberto Coelho to do away with his 4-5-1 system with three defensive midfielders in favor of a 4-4-2 with two of them and an extra striker in Amine Chermiti.

Besides that, the main difference with Tunisia’s most recent matches is the fact that Esperance playmaker Oussemma Darragi began the game on the bench as the Portuguese trainer appeared to favor bringing him on as a super sub just as he did against the same opponents in the reverse fixture in Rades.

Mozambique kicked off the match and immediately looked much more comfortable on the synthetic pitch of the Machava Stadium than their visitors who weren’t seeing much of the ball and were struggling to control it effectively.

In the 7th minute the Southern Africans created a great opportunity to go up but Aymen Mathlouthi reached the ball before Dario Monteiro. The Mambas continued to pile on the pressure and in the 8th minute the first corner kick was provoked by Marin Nooij’s men but it was poorly shot.

It took 13 minutes for Tunisia to cause trouble for the Mozambican defense and good interplay between Jemaa and Mikari led to the first corner for the visitors. The ensuing set play almost resulted in a free header on goal except that defensive partners Seif Ghezal and Karim Haggui got in each other’s way.

In the 22nd minute Dario Monteiro stood over a free kick from 20 yards but his shot went only slightly over the crossbar. Two minutes later Tunisia responded through Fahid Ben Khalfallah’s trickery but a foul on the edge of the box was not called by the match official.

Another great chance was missed by Mozambique in the 28th minute as Tico Tico wriggled his way into the box off a pass from Genito but Mathlouthi was once again there to save the Carthage Eagles.

Shortly therafter the home team were awarded a distant free kick and Genito tried his luck but put his shot well wide. Tunisia came close to unleashing one of the trademark counter attacks in the 37th minute but Fahid Ben Khalfallah could only force a corner that was not taken advantage of by the men in white.

Moments later the home team broke the offside trap and would have opened the scoring but Mikari got in the way of a Mozambican attacker’s shot to make sure that everything remained level at halftime.

Tunisia got things underway in the second period but were once again relying on uncharacteristic and ineffective long balls that were not troubling the well placed Mozambican defense.

The home team once more that took the initiative but their players continued to misfire despite the good positions they were finding themselves in.

Ali Zitouni came in for Fahid Ben Khalfallah and was the source of Tunisia’s first shot towards goal in the 58th minute. The Antalyaspor attacker’s introduction gave Tunisia more vivacity as they finally started to show some fluidity.

Despite this, things were still not going as the visitors had predicted and in the 62nd minute Humberto Coelho responded to the facts on the field by taking out Chermiti for Ousemma Darragi.

Mozambique should have taken the lead but Balbouli was imperial in goal, stopping a shot that would have surely ended the Tunisian World Cup dream. Coelho then took out the ineffective Ben Saada for Zouhaier Dhaouadi but nothing was doing for the North Africans who were struggling mightily.

Then as they pushed everything forward, the visitors were punished by Monteiro who beat the offsides trap and made no mistake from just outside the box to send the local fans into ecstatic celebrations.

The shot secured the deserving Mozambicans an African Cup of Nations place and made sure that the Carthage Eagles would not be present in South Africa next summer considering Nigeria did their part by beating Kenya 3-2.

Rami Ayari, Goal.com

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