The Tunisia factor

June 22nd, 2006 | By: Andriy Korol | 8 Comments »

I have to admit that I have not been paying much attention to Tunisia’s matches. I watched a bit of the first game, was unable to catch the second. I know about their achievements in Africa and know that African teams are big wild cards, they historically either disapoint or surprise and this is something that worries me. So, I’d like people to begin commenting on their strengths and how we can counter them. Their weaknesses and how we can exploit them. How confident are we about defeting Tunisia ?



Related Posts



Subscribe
 

rss icon Ukraine World Cup RSS Feed

Print
Print this article
Share
del.icio.us:The Tunisia factor digg:The Tunisia factor newsvine:The Tunisia factor reddit:The Tunisia factor fark:The Tunisia factor Y!:The Tunisia factor stumbleupon:The Tunisia factor

Comments
Username By Ukraine | June 22nd, 2006 at 6:35 am
top comment
cornercorner

They are a strong team, but we must beat them! If we lose to them, then they deserve to go through and not us, simple as that. I believe we can beat them.

Posted from United States United States

cornercorner
Username By Miguelinho | June 22nd, 2006 at 9:04 am
top comment
cornercorner

Confidence is a must, but overconfidence can lead to a hefty shock. Here are some things I’ve noticed.

Tunisia’s strengths:

1. As we saw against Saudi Arabia, these guys can score well after the 90th minute if given the chance. Saudis thought the match was on over; they tried to ice it by kicking the ball high into the air. Result? Tunisia inbounds, runs through an empty midfield, then uses two guys to score against about four defenders.

2. When they assault the penalty area, they really assault the penalty area with numbers. This doesn’t happen all the time, but when it happens, it looks very synchronized as if all the midfielders and forwards know this is the time. I saw their coaching staff talking into wireless headsets in the Spain game. Could they be talking to the captain and/or goalie?

3. They are plucky. They have some guys who are built like Roberto Carlos – short but with elephant shins on their legs. They can keep hammering the ball even when it seems they lost it. Sometimes, it works, and they blast the ball right between the legs of the opposing player and begin a lighting counter-attack.

Tunisia’s weaknesses:

1. On those occasions when they storm the penalty box, a fine block by the defense or save by Shovkovsky can lead to a nice counter-attack.

2. When they are pleased with the score, they sit back quite a bit. This happened against both Spain and Saudi Arabia – so it looks like a constant thing with them, intentional or not. A 0-0 draw knocks them out, but if they get an early goal, I would expect them to sit back. Hopefully, this will not happen, but if it does – maybe their tendency to sit back will help us equalize?

3. When they play a possession game, the open players will come pretty close to receive passes. This can lead to two or three Tunisian players stuck in a small space, and allow for one of our guys to intercept the ball and get it to open space where we can attack in numbers.

With that said, they look scary. They have a good balance between speed, tactics, and technique – none of these seem to come at the expense of the others. I don’t know…our guys will definitely need to defend better than last game. As we saw against Spain, mistakes can snowball very quickly.

Posted from United States United States

cornercorner
Username By anton | June 22nd, 2006 at 6:50 pm
top comment
cornercorner

Tunisia is very quick. They were able to penetrate the Spanish defence and score early on Spain in the last match, and were able hold on to their lead late into the game. Their speed is the main threat to Ukrainian defence. In order to stop Tunisia, Ukraine either has to play a more defensive formation, or close their defensive holes.

cornercorner
Username By Ukrainian Hooligan | June 22nd, 2006 at 7:12 pm
top comment
cornercorner

Or just go all out and hope the Ref takes it easy on the card front considering there are no (few exception) premier league babies to protect.

Posted from Canada Canada

cornercorner
Username By Miguelinho | June 22nd, 2006 at 8:08 pm
top comment
cornercorner

Confidence is a must, but overconfidence can lead to a hefty shock. Here are some things I’ve noticed.

Tunisia’s strengths:

1. As we saw against Saudi Arabia, these guys can score well after the 90th minute if given the chance. Saudis thought the match was on over; they tried to ice it by kicking the ball high into the air. Result? Tunisia inbounds, runs through an empty midfield, then uses two guys to score against about four defenders.

2. When they assault the penalty area, they really assault the penalty area with numbers. This doesn’t happen all the time, but when it happens, it looks very synchronized as if all the midfielders and forwards know this is the time. I saw their coaching staff talking into wireless headsets in the Spain game. Could they be talking to the captain and/or goalie?

3. They are plucky. They have some guys who are built like Roberto Carlos – short but with elephant shins on their legs. They can keep hammering the ball even when it seems they lost it. Sometimes, it works, and they blast the ball right between the legs of the opposing player and begin a lighting counter-attack.

Tunisia’s weaknesses:

1. On those occasions when they storm the penalty box, a fine block by the defense or save by Shovkovsky can lead to a nice counter-attack.

2. When they are pleased with the score, they sit back quite a bit. This happened against both Spain and Saudi Arabia – so it looks like a constant thing with them, intentional or not. A 0-0 draw knocks them out, but if they get an early goal, I would expect them to sit back. Hopefully, this will not happen, but if it does – maybe their tendency to sit back will help us equalize?

3. When they play a possession game, the open players will come pretty close to receive passes. This can lead to two or three Tunisian players stuck in a small space, and allow for one of our guys to intercept the ball and get it to open space where we can attack in numbers.

They look scary. They have a good balance between speed, tactics, and technique – none of these seem to come at the expense of the others. I don’t know…our guys will definitely need to defend better than last game. As we saw against Spain, mistakes can snowball very quickly.

Posted from United States United States

cornercorner
Username By dre145 | June 23rd, 2006 at 12:22 am
top comment
cornercorner

speed…. like i said before and ill say it again…. Im freaking scared that tunisia will fly past our defence and we wont be able to do anything. But I might be wrong gatta wait and see.

cornercorner
Username By Miguelinho | June 23rd, 2006 at 8:17 am
top comment
cornercorner

What happened to the site? My comments for the past couple of days have never shown up!

Posted from United States United States

cornercorner
Username By Deviilz. | June 23rd, 2006 at 2:33 pm
top comment
cornercorner

..here are the odds :
1 goal advantage to Tunisia
Can Ukraine win by a goal or more margin..?

Posted from Malaysia Malaysia

cornercorner


Comments are closed


 
Go to WCB Homepage




Send Your Tips!

Found a great story, photo or video that's perfect for World Cup Blog?
Email tips[at]worldcupblog[dot]org

Ukraine Club Football News

More Europe Blogs

Monthly Archives

closer
World Cup Blog