‘Tunis yet to recover from loss to Al Ain’

abu dhabi — African champion Esperance de Tunis clinched a nail-bitter against CD Guadalajara to finish fifth in the Fifa Club World Cup UAE 2018 and coach Moine Chaabani said the tournament was his toughest ever to manage.

Esperance lost the all-Arab second round match 0-3 to Al Ain on Saturday and Chaabani said his players were devastated with the result.

“The past days were difficult and slow. In terms of mental preparations, I had to be so tough with the players. I asked them to push themselves to the limit. This was the last chance to show the true spirit of Tunisia in this tournament. I thank them for their response in this match. We ended up with nine players but they were fully focused. I am truly proud of my players. They at least deserve the fifth spot,” he said after 6-5 penalty win over Guadalajara.

The coach noted the players were yet to recover from Al Ain mauling.

“We are still suffering. When you lose the first match like the way we did. We feel sorry but this is football.”

Chaabani said his young team were returning home with rich experience.

“I have only four players who have participated before in this tournament. We were expecting to do much better but they showed their mettle in penalties.”

Meanwhile man of the match keeper Rami Jeridi said the match was difficult one for everyone.

“My award is for the team. We have done our training for penalties and thank God we were lucky,” the keeper said.

The past days were difficult and slow. In terms of mental preparations, I had to be so tough with the players. I asked them to push themselves to the limit. This was the last chance to show the true spirit of Tunisia in this tournament

Moine Chaabani