Tunisia To Target SA’s Zuma

South Africa’s Sibusiso Zuma will be the South African player that Tunisia target for their crucial MTN Africa Cup of Nations Group D tie in Tamale on Saturday.

Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre, addressing a press conference on Saturday, said the Bundesliga-based player posed a serious threat.

“South Africa’s team is built around the hard working Zuma. He obviously is very important to them in this tournament and over the next two years as they build for the World Cup.

“If we allow Zuma the opportunity to play his normal game, he can be a real hand full,” the French-born coach said.

 
Defender Karim Hagui, who also plays his club football in Germany, has first hand experience of playing against Zuma.

“I know the qualities of Zuma, what he brings to his team as well as what he can help his team achieve, I have played against him in the Bundesliga and at the last Africa Cup of Nations. He is a real star player who is very dangerous and I just hope that we can prevent him from scoring on Sunday,” Hagui said.

But Zuma is shrugging off all the attention. The 32-year-old Armina Bielefeld winger, with 62 caps for South Africa, says it is the younger players in the South African team, who will will play a crucial role in the game against Tunisia.

“The young guys are very fast, their speed helped us keep hold of the ball for long periods of the match against Angola and that allowed us to get more and more into the game.

"In the next match we need to create as many chances as we did during our first game, the important thing is for us to take the opportunities when they come our way.”

Zuma added: “We always knew that we were going to be in a tough group and given the fact that all the teams are on the same number of points after the first round of matches, I do feel that all we need to do is win against Tunisia and that should be enough to secure a quarterfinal place.”