Tunisia goalkeeper Hassen out of World Cup

Brazil fans mocked Lionel Messi and celebrated Argentina’s defeat as they were singing `Messi Ciao’ (Goodbye Messi) in St. Petersburg on Thursday night. The Selecao fans parodied the famous Spanish song Bella Ciao (O darling goodbye).

The fans are always interested about how their rivals are doing in tournaments like Copa America and the World Cup.

Lionel Messi cut a lonely figure as Argentina fell to a demoralising 3-0 defeat at the hands of Croatia at which has left their qualification hopes hanging by a thread.

Both Brazil and Argentina drew their opening games at the 2018 World Cup. Brazilians however found something to celebrate as they mocked Argentina’s star player.

Switzerland hit back with a thunderous strike by Granit Xhaka and a last-minute breakaway goal by Xherdan Shaqiri to claim a famous 2-1 win over Serbia on Friday in a swashbuckling World Cup Group E match tinged with Balkan rivalry.

The Swiss looked in danger of being over-run when Serbia went ahead with an Aleksandar Mitrovic header after five minutes to the delight of their fervent supporters at the Kaliningrad stadium.

Xhaka silenced the Serbian contingent in the 52nd minute, however, when he rifled home a loose ball in spectacular style from 25 metres before Shaqiri ran onto a through ball and finished with aplomb to win the game at the death.

Xhaka and Shaqiri are among several members of the Swiss squad who are of Kosovar heritage, which added an extra dimension to the match.

Serbia refuses to recognise the independence of its former province Kosovo which broke away 10 years ago.

"It's clear that emotions were displayed up and I think we all need to steer away from politics and focus on this sport as a beautiful game that brings people together," Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic told reporters.

There was also controversy in the 65th minute when Mitrovic appeared to be held down as he went for a cross but the referee waved play on and there was no video review.

The result left Brazil, 2-0 winners over Costa Rica, top with four points, ahead of Switzerland on goal difference with Serbia on three.

Serbia must beat Brazil in their final game to qualify without relying on the result of the Swiss game against Costa Rica, who are eliminated after losing their first two games.

"This is football, we did not convert some of our chances," Serbia coach Mladen Krstajic said. "Whether this was a penalty or not, I will not comment on that.

"We’re in a situation where we need a win against Brazil on and we will focus and do whatever we can to try and win. Nothing is impossible in life."

FLYING START

Serbia made a flying start and Mitrovic forced Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer into an early save with a close-range header.

Sommer was powerless, however, in the fifth minute when Nemanja Matic won the ball and found Dusan Tadic, whose cross was met with a soaring header from Mitrovic.

With Mitrovic proving a handful for the Swiss defence, Serbia threatened to over-run their opponents and missed another chance when a corner flew across the face of goal and Dusko Tosic just failed to make contact.

Switzerland came right back into the game seven minutes after halftime thanks to Xhaka's fulminating strike after a rebound fell nicely into his path.

Xhaka was almost upstaged by Shaqiri who clipped the crossbar with a curling, dipping shot from the unlikeliest of angles and the match turned into a pulsating end-to-end affair which was brilliantly settled by Shaqiri.

Switzerland cleared a Serbia attack and a through pass sent the diminutive forward scuttling away before he slotted the ball neatly into the far corner.

"What is important is that we have developed this winning mentality even when we are down," said Petkovic, whose side have lost only one of their last 24 games.

"We always find a reaction. This is an important characteristic of my team."

It is encouraging to watch how Rachid Ghannouchi and Nahdha, the largest and most popular Islamic political party in Tunisia which is now widely expected to come to power again in the next election, have been transforming  over time. Recently Ghannouchi astonished the world by declaring that "We will exit political Islam", meaning that the country would be working to separate religious work from politics. Coming from one who once advocated Sharia law in governance, this change is amazing. Ghannouchi's leadership of remaining flexible, without compromising fundamental values and principles of Islam, has played a major role in helping Tunisia to become a vibrant democracy today, when other countries in the region have failed.

While Nahdha was in power, two opposition leaders were assassinated in 2013 and there were mass protests. To restore trust and confidence among people, Nahdha resigned and handed over power to a neutral caretaker government, who would be in charge until the next election. A secular party, Nidaa Tounes, got the majority in the Parliament in the subsequent election held in October 2014. Nahdha readily conceded defeat and pledged its cooperation. Thus a dignified political tradition, complying with the democratic spirit, was initiated. People's trust was restored. Even the parties who lost in the last two elections in Tunisia confirm that elections were fair and the system is working well.  

Going back, in June 2003, representatives of three major secular political parties made a visionary and courageous move in meeting representatives of Nahdha, then in exile, to negotiate and sign a joint declaration: "Call from Tunis" (issued from Paris). That document laid down rules of future political engagements that would ensure upholding democratic principles as well as respecting religious traditions and guaranteeing religious freedom. Since then, constructive engagements and protracted negotiations for a decade or so have produced a progressive Constitution, including terms of gender parity, proportional representation (PR) electoral system, and so on; a political system that should be emulated by the rest of the Muslim world.

This is an enormous achievement for a previously divided society that was ruled by autocrats since its independence from France in 1956, and torn between modernity and religious traditions. Since the Jasmine Revolution that ended President Ben Ali's 23-year autocratic rule in January 2011, the nation has gone through difficulties but has survived with amazing resilience. The main contributing factor is the constructive engagement of the oppositions and the consequent changes in the greater society creating optimism and public trust in the political processes.

Right after the revolution, Nahdha was very popular and was widely expected to win about 90 percent seats in the Constituent Assembly without the PR [proportional representation] system. That would be unacceptable to the secular and liberal parties. To avoid turmoil in the country, Nahdha accepted PR whereby, they knew, the party's share of the Assembly would drastically shrink.

In fact in the October 2011 elections, after using the PR system, Nahdha got only 41 percent seats. In spite of being the largest party in the Assembly, Nahdha formed coalition and shared power with the two secular groups. Paradoxically, the constraints and compromises of power-sharing among the oppositions have been the key to Tunisia's success in having a functional democracy today.

On the other hand, Egypt, a regional power, could not hang on to the emancipation process after ending the long repressive rule of Hosni Mubarak around the same time of Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution in January 2011. Only two-and-a-half years after the Revolution, and one year after Mohamed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) was elected president, a military coup removed Morsi from power on July 3, 2013. Again a military man, the former Defence Minister, Abdel Fateh al-Sisi, who led the last coup, is on the throne, claiming to have received over 90 percent votes in the last election. Egypt is back full circle.

The main reason Egypt was unsuccessful is because secularists and Islamic groups failed to reach out to each other. President Morsi, after assuming power, refused to listen to the secular voices in the country, took an uncompromising approach, tried to consolidate power fast, and sent a signal of another authoritarian rule in Egypt. Massive protests erupted nationwide and turmoil ensued. The army took over power. The nation, since its independence from Britain in 1922, lost a historic opportunity for self-rule. The Islamic party bears a lion's share of the blame for this failure. However, looking back, secular forces also remain responsible for this unfortunate outcome. Moderate Islamists have been persecuted at the hands of autocratic secular rulers going back to Nasser's time over 60 years ago, while secular groups and civil society gave lip service to pluralism but remained silent when moderate Islamists were oppressed and their rights were violated.

Many western and eastern scholars have been repeatedly pointing out that whenever constructive moves of moderate Islamist groups are ignored and they are persecuted, extreme radical forces emerge. Ghannouchi confirms: Salafist and Jehadist groups emerged both in Tunisia and Egypt during the repressive secular rules.

As radicalism intensifies, autocratic regimes find more excuses to continue their grip in the name of fighting terrorism. In reality, they imprison opposition leaders at will and violate the civil rights of citizens. The western powers, in the name of stability, support and do business with these undemocratic ruthless regimes. Their support reinforces the status quo and their hypocrisy creates cynicism and distrust among the people under such a repressive rule. The anger and frustration of some segments of the society, especially of the younger generation, help reinforce radicalism. Radicals find more justifications for their vicious work. That also increases the ferocity of repression.

This vicious cycle continues with the reckless way of pursuing de-radicalisation. The recent events in many countries is a testament to the fact that the 'War on Terror' policy has failed, in spite of spending hundreds of billions of dollars by the powerful western countries. There is no military solution to radicalism, especially in this global society with an ever higher intolerance for subjugation and humiliation, and with the ever more availability of arms through reckless arms businesses. It is long overdue that the world powers focus on a deep rooted agenda to address radicalism, such as helping establish power-sharing democratic rule. The counterproductive strategy of pursuing  stability  at the expense of democracy ultimately helps create a stagnant situation devoid of both stability and democracy. 

Tunisia seems to be getting out of this quagmire. Radicals have either mostly been transformed or marginalised. Both Islamists and secularists are finding common grounds and democracy is thriving in the country.

 

The writer is Executive Director, US based Justice, Peace and Progress.

E-mail: rubyamatullah@yahoo.com

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur lifted the spirits of an entire continent as she became the first Arab and first African woman to reach the Wimbledon final with a rousing 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over her barbecue buddy Tatjana Maria on Thursday.

Before she stepped on court, American great Billie Jean King said Jabeur was "using tennis as a platform to help Tunisia, help Africa and help Arabs" and the 27-year-old did just that as she finally ended the remarkable run of mum-of-two Maria.

Maria, 34, was forced to save three break points in the opening game but was unable to prolong that resistance as she dropped serve in the third and seventh games before Jabeur sealed the opening set when the German smacked a backhand long.

However, the 103rd-ranked Maria refused to hand victory away on a platter to an opponent she calls "family" as she broke for a 3-1 lead in the second and held on to that advantage to draw level when the third seed sliced a backhand into the net.

But Jabeur finally lived up to her world number two billing to run away with the third set and set up a final showdown with either Romania's 16th-seeded 2019 champion Simona Halep or Russian-born Kazakh 17th seed Elena Rybakina.

Ons Jabeur became the first African woman in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam final on Thursday when she defeated Germany's Tatjana Maria in the Wimbledon semi-finals.

The 27-year-old world number two from Tunisia triumphed 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 and will face either 2019 champion Simona Halep or Elena Rybakina in Saturday's championship match.

Before Thursday, South Africans Irene Bowder Peacock, at the 1927 French Open, and Renee Schuurman, in the 1959 Australian Open, were the only African women to reach a Slam final.
 

Lionel Messi and Argentina hit the training ground on Saturday with renewed hope of qualifying for the World Cup last 16.

Argentina were on the brink of elimination after a humiliating 3-0 loss to Croatia, but Nigeria's 2-0 win over Iceland on Friday offered the two-time world champions a lifeline.

Victory over Nigeria in their final Group D match in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday would send Argentina through as runners-up if group leaders Croatia avoid defeat against Iceland.

Gabriel Mercado, Nicolas Otamendi and midfielder Lucas Biglia trained separately from the rest of the squad in the gym as they recover from minor knocks.

Defensive pair Mercado and Otamendi suffered ankle injuries in the loss to Croatia but are expected to be fit to face Nigeria.

Coach Jorge Sampaoli was roundly criticised for his approach against Croatia, sparking rumours the 58-year-old would be sacked during the tournament.

It had been suggested that 1986 World Cup winner Jorge Burruchaga, the team's technical director, would replace Sampaoli, but the claims were strongly denied by the Argentina Football Association (AFA).

Messi was kept quiet as Argentina suffered their heaviest first round group stage defeat since 1958, but the Barcelona forward could yet have his say at what is likely his fourth and final World Cup.

Goalkeeper Willy Caballero could be dropped following his mistake for the opening goal against Croatia, with River Plate's Franco Armani possibly in line to make his international debut.