Etoile Sahel Dump Pachuca Out of Club World Cup
By: Martha | December 10th, 2007
At their press conference on Saturday, everyone from Boca Juniors talked as if Pachuca were already their semifinal opponents, so sure were they that the Mexican club would see off African champion Etoile Sahel in Sunday’s match. Oops. In the first upset of the Club World Cup, Tunisia’s Etoile beat Pachuca 1-0 on a late goal by Moussa Narry to move into the semifinals against the giants who aren’t even sure who they are.
Rami has a full report up at the Tunisia blog, but to sum up: Pachua dominated possession (though shots and shots on goal were virtually even) and were by all accounts the better team, but as disappointed coach Enrique Meza said after the match, his team didn’t capitalize on their chances, and “Etoile deserved to win because they scored a goal.” Word. Pachuca controlled the first half and even hit the crossbar once, but Etoile did have some chances and were hanging tough, avoiding getting played entirely off the pitch. In the second half, the Mexicans had a goal ruled out for offside, but they fell victim to a sharp counterattack, and Narry’s 35-yard attempt took a deflection and found the back of the net in the 85th minute, sending the Tunisian club into a meeting with Boca Juniors.
Etoile side are a very young team (Narry is only 21), including 19-year-old budding star, striker Mohamed Amine Chermiti, and the Club World Cup is not only a great test of how the youngsters will fare against high level competition but also, and just as important for a some, it’s a chance at international exposure, to let European clubs see what they can do.
Come Wednesday, the kids will be facing off against one of the biggest clubs in the world — fingers crossed they’ll be able to give them a bit of trouble, as well. Every tournament needs a Cinderella.
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Nice to see a surprise. As much as Milan v. Boca would be fun to watch, I hope they have to work to get there. Who knows – maybe Sahel are the ones to do it.
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