(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Fawad Hussain | The Peninsula
Doha: African champions Algeria and Tunisia square off in the Arab Cup final today, hoping to wrap up their impressive run in Qatar by lifting the glittering trophy at the stunning Al Bayt Stadium.
The showdown promises a lot of fireworks as both the North African giants have displayed great attacking flair, playing free-flowing on their way to the title clash.
Tunisia will be looking for their second Arab Cup title after winning the inaugural edition back in 1963 while Algeria are targeting their maiden crown.
Algeria, who clinched hard-fought victories against Morocco and Asian champions Qatar in the knockout stages, will go into the final with a slight edge over Tunisia as they remain the only unbeaten team in the tournament, only missing out a win when they drew with Egypt in the group stage.
After suffering a shock loss to Syria in Group B, Tunisia bounced back edging out Oman in the quarter-final before defeating Egypt with a last-gasp own goal in the semi-final. The Mondher Kebaier-coached Eagles of Carthage, however, will go into the title-decider without defender Yassine Meriah, who tore his cruciate ligament during the semi-final.
In his absence, coach Kebaier will hope tournament top scorer Seifeddine Jaziri to shine today as well by adding to his tally of four goals. Captain Youssef Msakni, who has scored two goals, will also be the key player along with midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, who claimed man of the match titles in Tunisia's last three outings.
The Desert Warriors, on the other hand, will be eyeing to take maximum advantage of a depleted Tunisian defense with their top trio of captain Yacine Brahimi, Baghdad Bounedjah and Youssef Belaili available for the match.
In the last battle between the familiar foes, Algeria defeated Tunisia 2-0 in a friendly in June last year. However, the reigning African champions have not beaten Tunisia in a competitive match at the senior level in 34 years, with their last win coming in March 1987, in Africa Cup qualifiers when they won 1-0. Since then, Tunisia have won on four occasions while two of their matches were drawn.
Knowing the history well, Algerian coach Madjid Bougherra was expecting a tough finale, saying the more competitive team will take the title.
“It's a North African derby and both teams know each other well. It's an open game and the team which will be best on the pitch will win,” Bougherra said at a pre-final press conference yesterday.
“Since the day we have arrived in Qatar, we have just one goal, to win every match we play. We are only thinking about winning the trophy tomorrow,” he added.
Algeria defeated Morocco on penalties in an epic quarter-final, and the 39-year-old predicted a similar contest against Tunisia.
“Tunisia have a lot of experience and they deserved to be in the final. It will be like a match against Morocco as it is another North African derby. The team which will show better fighting spirit will win. We played very tough matches without getting much time to recover, and I hope the players will be fit and go into the match with fresh legs,” he added.
“We need to be very focused against Tunisia,” he said.
Algeria's Mohamed Amine Tougai said:“It will be a very special meeting for me. It's a source of motivation to know the opposing players, of course, but you have to admit that they also know me. We will play our cards on the table. We will need to have focus to win.”
Meanwhile, Tunisian coach said his team will play against Algeria with full force with an aim to win the title.
“We will use all our experience and talent to get the victory in the final. We want to win the title for our fans and injured Yassine Meriah. It will be a balanced match as both teams will enter the final with equal chance,” he said.
To a query, Kebaier said the team will have to overcome the challenges to win title glory.
“We faced a lot of injuries and missed players due to the COVID-19. We have to overcome the absence of Yassine Meriah also,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mejbri said:“I'm really excited for the final against Algeria. After all, it's a final. We're going to give absolutely everything and concentrate on our game.”
“It would mean so much, not just for the players but for the country as a whole. Everyone knows what it's like in Africa and in Tunisia: we live, eat and sleep football. So if we were to win then it'd bring us even closer to our people, moving in the right direction together and it would give us so much strength to go on and achieve even more,” he added.
MENAFN18122021000063011010ID1103391830
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.