Tunisia vs Sierra Leone

On July 31, 2011, Tunisia and Sierra Leone were drawn to play in qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Less than a year later, Tunisia and Sierra Leone will meet, but this time, it is not for World Cup qualifying, but rather for a spot at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2013.

In a span of nine months, beginning this September, Tunisia and Sierra Leone will play four meaningful qualifying matches.

Having played at World Cup 1998, as well as qualifiers for the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup, Sami Trabelsi is Tunisia’s manager, and will hope to improve. Since winning on home soil in 2004, Tunisia has only reached the quarterfinals on three of the previous four AFCON tournaments.

Yet, Tunisia has one of its best scorers in history. Having played in 4 AFCON tournaments and the 2005 FIFA Confederation Cup, Isaam Jemaa led scoring in both qualifying campaigns for the 2008 and 2012 editions, with four and six goals respectively. In the latter campaign, Jemaa scored a hat-trick against Chad , but it would be Walid Hicheri and Saber Khelifa who scored crucial goals to help Tunisia overtake Malawi on the last day of qualifying in their group to reach AFCON 2012.

History could help Tunisia should the country play in South Africa: the last time AFCON was held in South Africa, Tunisia reached the final, only to lose to the hosts.

South Africa was also the host country that Sierra Leon last reached an AFCON tournament. Although not a host venue this time for the upcoming AFCON tournament, Bloemfontein’s Free State Stadium was the site of Sierra Leone’s last AFCON victory. It was Sierra Leone’s first group stage game of the tournament, which came against Burkina Faso. Mohamed Kallon, a player who would captain in Sierra Leone’s subsequent World Cup qualifiers, scored the winning goal late in the game to win against Burkina Faso 2-1. Yet, Sierra Leone would lose its next two games to Algeria and Zambia, and were eliminated from AFCON 1996.

Sierra Leone best chance to return to AFCON came in qualifying for the 2012 edition. Despite being draw against Egypt, Niger and South Africa, Sierra Leone nearly snatched a spot at AFCON 2012. In their penultimate qualifier, Sierra Leone won against Egypt on a late goal by Mohamed Bangura. A victory in Nelspruit, South Africa would have given Sierra Leone a spot at AFCON 2012. However, that game went scoreless, and Niger would advance despite losing in Egypt 3-0.

When AFCON 2013 commenced, Sierra Leone survived a shaky two-legged playoff against Sao Tome e Principe. After losing 2-1 in the first leg, Sierra Leone fell behind quickly, but stormed back to win 4-2.

In addition to their earlier qualifiers, Sierra Leone had lost two friendlies to Iraq and Jordan. However, Sierra Leone began World Cup qualifying with a 2-1 victory over Cape Verde Islands. Days later, Sierra Leone tied Equatorial Guinea 2-2, but sit second behind Tunisia in qualifying. Tunisia won its first two games: the country came from behind to be Equatorial Guinea 3-1, followed by a 2-1 against the Cape Verde Islands to sit atop its group.

Who will get the upper hand in the first two meeting? Whoever qualifies from this matchup, can they have the same magic that they previous had in South Africa? The answer will come this October.