FIFA Arab Cup Final 2021: The tactical reasons why Tunisia lost to Algeria in the North African Derby – tactical analysis

Tunisia reached the final of the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 alongside Algeria after both teams were able to beat all the other Arab national teams participating in the competition. Tunisia won against Mauritania with a 5-1 result before losing in an expected way when facing Syria. That loss was like an awakening for the Carthaginians who realised that their level should be improved in the upcoming games if they’d like to reach an advanced stage in the competition. That’s exactly what happened when they met the United Arab Emirates and won 1-0 thanks to Seifeddine Jaziri’s goal. It was a win that secured Tunisia’s qualification to the Quarter-finals at the top of Group B, meeting Oman and then Egypt in the Semi-finals while beating both teams.

For Algeria, the adventure started with a 4-0 win against Sudan, a 0-2 win against Lebanon before drawing 1-1 with Egypt and qualifying to the Quarter-finals where they met a tough Moroccan side. It was a match that ended 2-2 and the result was decided by penalties for Algeria who met the hosts, Qatar, in the Semi-finals. Algerians had enough confidence and abilities to beat Qatar at their stadium to finally reach the final of the competition, meeting one of their biggest rivals if not their biggest Arab rival.

It is true that this competition has a friendly flavour and is organised as a preparatory tournament for the upcoming 2022’s FIFA World Cup, yet, the final, as well as the preceding matches, were played with a lot of motivation from everyone as they were playing an Africa Cup of Nations or an Asian Cup.

The final ended with a 0-2 win for Algeria who proved once again that they are one of the best Arab teams if not the best at the moment after winning the 2019’s Africa Cup of Nations and proving their worth alongside the big African national teams as well.

On the other side, Tunisia will look at their participation with proud eyes since the achieved result was a little bit higher than the expectations even though the team could have done more in the final to win the trophy. Nevertheless, the efforts of the players deserve some praise especially when knowing that this team faced numerous issues including last-minute injuries and Covid cases that prevented the coaching staff and especially the head coach, Mondher Kebaier, from exploiting all his weapons and applying his ideas in the desired way.

The inclusion of new players was also a very beneficial achievement for the team since the coaching staff won some reliable players who shined during this tournament and proved their worth such as Mohamed Amine Ben Hamida, Bilel Ifa, Mohamed Dräger, Ghailene Chaalali, Firas Ben Larbi, Hannibal Mejbri, Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane and Seifeddine Jaziri, ahead of the 2021’s Africa Cup of Nations.

In this tactical analysis article, the focus will be mainly on Tunisia’s performance, their defensive tactical mistakes and the reasons why they were not able to equalise. This will of course be accompanied by an analysis of Algeria’s attacking strengths.

Line-ups

During this competition, Mondher Kebaier tried to alternate between the 3-4-3 formation and the 4-3-3 but the injuries of Hamza Mathlouthi and Yassine Meriah obliged him to use the 4-3-3 formation in the final using Mouez Hassen as a goalkeeper, Mohamed Dräger as a right-back, Montassar Talbi and Bilel Ifa as centre-backs, and Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane as a left-back. The midfield was composed of three central midfielders, Ghailene Chaalali, Manchester United’s Hannibal Mejbri and Ferjani Sassi. In attack, Seifeddine Jaziri was the team’s striker while Youssef Msakni and Naïm Sliti played on the wings and often cut inside to be more dangerous and exchange passes with Jaziri.

For Algeria, head coach Madjid Bougherra, who replaced the official Algerian national team head coach Djamel Belmadi during this competition, opted for the 4-2-3-1 formation during this match with Raïs MBolhi as a goalkeeper, Houcine Benayada on the right flank, Abdelkader Bedrane and Djamel Benlamri as centre-backs and Ilyes Chetti as a left-back.

In the absence of Milan’s Ismaël Bennacer and Galatasaray’s Sofiane Feghouli, Bougherra used Houssem Eddine Mrezigue and Sofiane Bendebka as a midfield duo, with Yacine Brahimi playing an advanced playmaker, Youcef Belaïli and Tayeb Meziani on the wings and Baghdad Bounedjah as a striker.

It should be said however that Algeria were deprived of some other big names like Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez, Lyon’s Islam Slimani and one of Serie A’s rising talents, Adam Ounas, who plays at Napoli. The same applies for Tunisia who weren’t able to benefit from the services of Ligue 1 and Saint-Étienne’s Wahbi Khazri, Köln’s Ellyes Skhiri, Metz’s Dylan Bronn, Ferencváros’s Aïssa Laïdouni and many other players.

Tunisia’s attacking performance and finishing issues

Tunisia had an average of 54.88% in terms of possession, won 48.75% of the total duels while winning 43.2% in offensive duels. However, they shot 16 times on target with only two shots being on target, equalling an average of 12.5% against 26.32% for Algeria. It is true that both averages are low when it comes to shots on target, but having only two shots on target in a final means that the team has a problem in finishing. The issue doesn’t really concern chance creation since Tunisia reached MBolhi’s goal 16 times in this match.

To put things into their context, the first shot that was on target occurred during a well-executed set-piece from Sliti towards the far post where Ifa was unmarked and exploited the occasion with a powerful head that hit the crossbar and went out. It was a well-played action from the Tunisians who weren’t lucky enough since the ball could have hit the crossbar and went in given that the ball surpassed M’Bolhi who mistimed his saving attempt.