Capital Derby: Stade Tunisien Proves Dominance Over Espérance de Tunis
More entrepreneurial and opportunistic in the first half, solid defensively in the second half, Stade Tunisien demonstrated at the Bardo stadium that they are indeed the masters of the ground, despite the good will of the "blood and gold" attackers to come back into the match.
Intense and Tactical Match
The capital derby opposing Stade Tunisien to Espérance de Tunis yesterday afternoon at the Stade Hédi-Enneifer lived up to its promises with an intense game from the first minutes of the encounter. However, the derby was also a tactical match between Chokri Khatoui and Maher Kanzari, resulting in few clear scoring opportunities despite the intensity of the debates. This intensity was punctuated by the engagement of the players.
Quality Players and Few Scoring Opportunities
The few scoring opportunities recorded testify to the good quality of the players from both teams. The first major opportunity of the match was for Espérance de Tunis when Youssef Belaïli accelerated on the right, won his duel with Amath Ndaw, but was caught up by Youssef Saâfi. He overtook him before being pushed by Ndaw in the penalty area. The referee whistled a penalty in favor of Belaïli, but after consulting the VAR, Nidhal Letaïef canceled the penalty, preceded by a foul by Belaïli on Saâfi, pushing him with his arm (18').
Stade Tunisien's First Major Opportunity
About ten minutes later, Stade Tunisien had their first major opportunity: following a long center from Ndaw, Ben Hmida awkwardly cut the trajectory of the ball, which fell in front of Ndiaye, whose shot crashed onto the right post (29').
Stade Tunisien Takes the Lead
Ndaw returned to the charge a few minutes later to initiate a new offensive action, serving Ndiaye, who in turn addressed a precise center from the right for Mohamed Amine Khémissi, who directly scored into the nets of Ben Saïd (41').
Espérance de Tunis' Near-Equalizer
In added time and taking advantage of a mess in the Stade Tunisien defense, Achref Jabri almost equalized, but his shot grazed the left post (45'+7).
Sterile Domination
At the start of the second half, Maher Kanzari incorporated Boualia and Konaté respectively in place of Sasse and Ogbelu. Two simultaneous changes that were going to bring added value to the offensive animation, dominating the debates during the second half of the game. Moreover, Jabri was dangerous in the 66th minute, but Stade Tunisien's goalkeeper, Noureddine Farhati, closed the angle of shot in two times. On his side, Boualia was also close to scoring the equalizing goal, taking advantage of a poorly cleared ball by Sahraoui, but his shot grazed the left post of Farhati's cage (86').
Conclusion
In short, despite total domination of the debates in the second half, the "blood and gold" attackers were unable to unlock the solid Stade Tunisien defense. The Bardelais, who played with a low block and created a numerical superiority in their half of the field, significantly reduced the spaces for Youssef Belaïli and his teammates, who conceded a defeat at the worst possible time, just a week before their first outing in the Champions League.
Lineups: Stade Tunisien: Farhati, Khalfa (Riahi 90'+6), Sghaier, Sahraoui, Sayhi, Ndaw (Thiam 77'), Touré, Khemissi (Haboubi 72'), Werghemmi (Smaali 77'), Ndiaye, and Saafi. Espérance de Tunis: Ben Saïd, Ben Ali (Bouassida 87'), Ben Hmida, Tougaï, Meriah, Ogbelu (Konaté 46'), Guenichi (Tka 76'), Jebali (Dhaou 76'), Sasse (Boualia 46'), Jabri, and Belaïli.
