INJUSTICE
BILEL MOHSNI believes his controversial World Cup snub is down to a terrible injustice.
The former Rangers and Dundee United defender was left out of Tunisia’s final 23-man squad after coming within touching distance of fulfilling his lifelong burning ambition.
The 30-year-old had dreamed of facing England, Belgium and Panama having got his career back on track with some fine performances for Dundee United towards the end of last season. But national coach Nabil Maaloul wrecked his hopes.
Mohsni was in Tunisia’s preliminary 29-man squad before Maaloul whittled it down to 23 last week.
The defender said: “It was my dream to be at the World Cup but I just knew I wasn’t going to make it.
“Yet there was one guy picked who only played one first-team game in a whole year. That is injustice.
“Tell me – who is match BY EUAN McARTHUR fit or not? Someone who has played a lot of competitive matches recently or someone else who has just played once.
“When I arrived at the international camp I was full of confidence and even scoring goals.
“After each training session we played 11 versus 11 and I won most of those games. All of the players knew I was the best defender there.
“They obviously couldn’t speak out but knew I should have been in the 23-man squad at least.
“They were so shocked. How come I hadn’t played for so long before going to Dundee United but was still better than them?
“We were doing 15-second sprints and I was finishing them in 10 seconds. They were just looking at me and thinking, ‘Wow’.
“The problem was the coach just didn’t give me my chance. We had two friendlies – for one I was on the bench against Portugal and for the other I was in the stand against Turkey.
“He knew if I got the chance he wouldn’t be able to take me out of the team. I saw it with my own eyes. There were lots of funny things going on. I knew from the second week there it wasn’t going to happen.
“It’s because I wasn’t born in Tunisia and am not a fan of one of the big four clubs in the country.
“Those clubs have a lot of power in the national team. Nobody helped me get to where I am now in my career.
“When I was younger I was frustrated because so many managers and chairmen blocked me from going to the very top and it’s happened again.
“Now I just need to pick myself up and get my career going again.
“I know I can play at a high level so I have to just get over this disappointment.
“Teams in France and the Bundesliga in Germany told me they would sign me if I got to 23-man squad for the World Cup. But it all changed because I didn’t get there.”
BILEL MOHSNI