Lemerre's gamble backfires

2006-01-30 21:28

Alexandria - Roger Lemerre's gamble to play a second string side backfired here on Monday as African Nations Cup reigning champions Tunisia went down to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Group C rivals Guinea.

Goals by Ousmane Bangoura - his second of the tournament - Pascal Feinduono - his third - and a injury time header by Kaba Diawara sealed an impressive victory for Guinea, who also started with a virtual second string team.

It means Guinea top the group and play the runners-up of Group D while Tunisia will play the winners of Group D on Saturday.

Tunisia almost had a goal in the first minute as a long pass from Bolton's Radhi Jaidi found Haykel Gmamdia but he shot softly at 'keeper Naby Diarso.

Diarso, though, somehow allowed the ball to slip through his legs and it was only thanks to an alert defender that the ball was hacked off the line.

They paid for that as Guinea playmaker Ibrahima Yattara was allowed far too much space and his pass found Ousmane Bangoura, the Charleroi midfielder coolly slotted the ball into the far corner of the net.

Close to doubling their lead

Another of the plethora of Bangoura players in the Guinea squad Ismael went close to doubling their lead in the 35th minute when the Le Mans striker was again left alone without a care in the world but his shot from long range crept over the bar.

Despite the attractive creative football it threatened to be nullified by the card wielding of Singaporean referee Maidin Shamsul, who booked four players in the first 40 minutes of what was not a dirty match.

Ismael Bangoura then wasted a golden chance to ease the Guineans ahead as he broke the offside trap and was just one on one with the reserve Tunisian 'keeper Hamdi Kasraoui.

However despite beating Kasraoui his shot scraped the far post and went out for a goal kick.

The labouring Bolton central defender Radhi Jaidi was having one of those evenings one prefers to forget and was left for dust again by Yattara but was relieved to see the Trabzonspor player's shot blocked and cleared four minutes from the break.

Ismael Bangoura was doing superbly at getting free and into scoring positions but sadly he wasn't doing the important part of converting them as was the case again five minutes after the break - turning and shooting five metres out but the shot went wide of the post.

Tunisia nearly made him pay for his profligacy a minute later when Gmamdia fired across goal but while it beat Diarso it slid past the far post.

Frustration got the better of him

It came as something of a surprise when Yattara was replaced in the 55th minute - albeit by their two goal hero from the win over Zambia Feinduono - though he may well have earned himself a place in the starting line-up for the last eight match.

It was no surprise, though, that Jaidi was substituted, a minute after his frustration got the better of him and he was booked for a foul. His dissatisfaction at the decision of Lemerre was clear as he glanced angrily at the bench and walked straight down the tunnel.

His going off didn't improve matters for the Tunisian defence and it was instead the Guinean replacement Feinduono who made his mark.

Having gone agonisingly close just after coming on, the St Etienne midfielder made no mistake when he took a pass from Ismael Bangoura and his shot flew past Kasraoui into the net.

Both sides went close after that - Feindouno twice with a header and a freekick - but the closing stages belonged to card happy Shamsul, who with wonderful theatrics brandished a yellow and then the red at Merdassi - another yellow was to come the way of Tunisian substitute Issam Jemaa.

The Tunisians at least won that battle ending with four yellows and one red to Guinea's two bookings.

- AFP