Ethiopia to play Tunisia on Monday
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The Walia Antelopes of Ethiopia will head to Qatar for their second pre-AFCON friendly against Tunisia on Saturday evening. The game that will be played on Monday, January 7 in Doha is expected to provide a rough challenge for Ethiopia, one that can simulate what they would be facing when the tournament starts in South Africa.
Tunisia previously planned to play Egypt on Monday but after the Egyptian Football Federation decided to cancel the game for undisclosed reasons, they were forced to look for other opponents and Ethiopia fitted the bill.
The Tunisia national team, nicknamed Carthage Eagles, are a force in the African football and regular visitors to the Africa Cup of nations’ finals. Tunisia have been to every final since 1994, but they only managed to lift the trophy once on home soil in 2004. The Carthage Eagles will have good memory of South Africa as the last time they visited in 1996; they finished runners up to the hosts.
The current Tunisia squad is comprised of almost an equal proportion of home-based players and players who play their football abroad. The team includes 12 players who play in France, Spain, Ukraine, Switzerland, Kuwait, Qatar and Belgium with the stand-out being Athletico Madrid’s midfielder Abdelkader Oueslati. Home sides ES Tunis, ES Sahel and Club African are the clubs with the largest share of players in the national team. The team is coached by Sami Trabelsi who played as a Left-back for Tunisia in the 1996, 1998 and 2008 African Cups and in the 1998 World Cup. Read more
