Tche Irene Morikang
26 June 2006
interview
What appreciation can you make of your team's World Cup participation?
I don't know whether we have progressed or regressed, that's the big question mark. I think we must work tremendously on the building and pre-building of players in order that we can have young players reaching international tournaments. But we would have liked to progress. It's good to learn, but it's nicer to learn while you are winning. We went as far as we could. All the players are disappointment and for me, it's a huge blow now that we are out of the tournament.
Africans expected a lot from Tunisia. What happened?
We certainly share the disillusionment of the Tunisian fans and Africans in general. But life goes on and we now have to think about qualification for the next African Nations Cup as well as the next World Cup. I am there to create a group and with ten people, as we were for a good part of our last match, you have to reorganise the team. It's really difficult to move forward with ten people, but let's not forget that our goalkeeper did a magnificent job. Our midfielders played very well in the first half and we wanted to consolidate our position. One thing bothers me, instead of hitting long passes we often had to rely on short passes.
What do you think of the red card granted to Ziad Jaziri?
I will not comment on the way the Paraguayan referee, Carlos Amarilla, handled the match. I do my job and the referee does his. My opinions are not useful here because it's not in my power to make decisions on the pitch. The referee makes the decisions and you have to accept them.
Any lessons from this brief World Cup adventure?
For a competition like the World Cup, you need great attackers and we have one or two really good ones. Then you look at a team like Spain who have Raul sitting on the bench. There is a big difference. Tunisia can only give what it has. We have selected the right people. I hope the Ukraine will go on and make it far in the tournament. I don't regret anything. I cannot expect a team to play a way our players can't play, although one or two attackers would have made quite a difference. You just have to adapt to the conditions.
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