January 31, (THEWILL) – Tunisia, who recorded one of the biggest upsets at the knockout stages of the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), by knocking out favourites Nigeria, have fired their team coach Mondher Kebaier.
Kebaier was relieved of his duties Sunday, a day after the country’s squad was eliminated from the 2021 AFCON and two months before the World Cup playoffs for a spot in Qatar.
According to a statement from the Tunisia Football Federation, Kebaier will be replaced by his assistant Jalel Kadri, who was on the bench during Tunisia’s last-16 triumph over Nigeria, while Kebaier was in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.
THEWILL recalls that Tunisia, despite losing two of their three group matches, qualified for the tournament’s knockout stages in Cameroon as one of the four best third-place finishers.
The Carthage Eagles then overcame the Super Eagles in the quarter-finals, despite Kebaier and several key players being absent due to a coronavirus outbreak in their camp, only to lose 1-0 to Burkina Faso on Saturday.
The 50-year-old Kadri, who takes Kebaier’s place, has vast club coaching experience in Tunisia and the Middle East, but this is his first national team top position.
He will be calling the shots in the crucial and significant ties ahead, when Tunisia face Mali in a two-legged match at the end of March, with the winner qualifying for the World Cup finals in November.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
