Tunisia Eliminated. Despite the cautionary warnings from Tunisian coach Adel Sellimi to “go score goals in Libreville,” his team fell short of the necessary outcome to progress to the next round of the Orange Junior African Cup of Nations qualifiers. In the match held in Libreville, the young Panthers of Gabon were favored to secure a spot in the third qualifying round, and they succeeded by winning with a narrow 1-0 score.
The victory meant that Gabon would advance to the final phase scheduled for March 2013 in Algeria, while Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles would not be participating in the junior CAN next year. The responsibility for this outcome was placed on the Tunisian team’s draw with two goals in the first leg, where they initially led 2-0 until the 85th minute before experiencing a late collapse against Gabon.
Adel Sellimi’s debut as the coach of the Tunisian team did not meet expectations, and the bitter elimination was primarily attributed to a subpar second half during the first leg at the Chedly Zouiten stadium in Tunis on July 29.
