An interview with Tunisia’s national team
It wasn’t supposed to be again. Despite some good chances, Tunisia failed to avoid losing to Burkina Faso in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. While the “Adler von Kathargo” had already failed in 1998 and 2017 in the round of eight due to the “stallions”, fate repeated itself this year. Mohamed Dräger (25), who fought in vain for 90 minutes to progress, was a former player for SC Freiburg and SC Paderborn.
“You mustn’t lose the game, not with the expectations that we have of us and that the country has of us,” says the right-winger in an interview with Transfermarkt. In this, the native of Freiburg reports on “a lot of crazy things” from the continental tournament.
The Tunisians “constantly had to struggle with something”. Above all with the corona pandemic, which spread through the team like wildfire. Several professionals were already missing in the first group game, including Dräger, who was only able to play in the third game. “The guidelines of the CAF (African Football Association; ed.) were difficult to implement, they weren’t designed to avoid Corona,” the national player is annoyed at the organization and adds with a laugh: “Fortunately it has not all caught at once, that would have been stupid.” Instead, the players came in and out of quarantine “as if in alternation”. The Tunisians were hit particularly hard against Nigeria in the round of 16, when the team only had 19 players in the squad and a decimated coaching staff.
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In addition to the adversities associated with the corona pandemic, the team was also concerned with other disruptive factors. “There were so many things left and right that had nothing to do with football, but were always the focus,” says Dräger. There was once a lack of light in the dressing room, which is why the players had to help out with their mobile phone flashlights. Or the showers were only partially or not at all functional.
While these irregularities can still be smiled at, the raging civil war in the west of the country was not a harmless security aspect. It was not uncommon for shots to be fired a few kilometers away. Meanwhile, security forces, who were on duty around the clock, ensured the protection of the teams. “Unfortunately, the choice of hosting Cameroon was not a good one,” states Dräger. The country “wasn’t ready yet.”
Tunisia’s Dräger on secondary events: “Too bad” for the Africa Cup
Although the circumstances were “not easy to accept” for the pros, the Tunisians tried to take it easy. “Moping around all the time wouldn’t have made sense. It’s not the first time that you’ve been on the road under such circumstances,” says Dräger, who has appeared regularly for Tunisia since his debut in 2018. Nevertheless, these secondary events are “a pity” for the Africa Cup, which Dräger has developed sportingly in recent years. The quality is “super” and the level is “completely different” than before. The national player is therefore trying “to take part in as many Africa Cups as possible”.
When asked about the lack of goals at the beginning of this year’s tournament, Dräger cited the teams’ lack of willingness to take risks as the reason. The reason for this is the mode, which also enables a large part of the third parties to jump into the knockout round. Therefore, it was felt that many teams wanted to “make ends meet” after a lead. Against a similar style of play, the “Adler von Kathargo” failed in the quarter-finals against Burkina Faso. As a consequence, national coach Mondher Kebaier had to vacate his post and was succeeded by Jalel Kadri.
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This has the task of securing Tunisia one of the last tickets for the World Cup in Qatar next March. In the playoffs, the North Africans meet Mali. “We’re in good spirits,” says Dräger, who was loaned out by Nottingham Forest to FC Luzern shortly after the end of the Africa Cup of Nations. In England he “never really arrived”, which is why he was denied playing time at his regular club. In the last update, its market value fell when Dräger was devalued by 200,000 to currently 800,000 euros. The purpose of the loan is to get “minutes on your feet”. “In the summer we’ll see how it goes,” says Dräger about his sporting future.
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