CS Sfaxien central midfielder Fares Neji picked a great time to score his first professional goal with an excellent 20-yard strike to give his side the lead in the final seconds of extra time, clinching a spot in the Coupe de Tunisie final for Sfaxien at the expense of Club Africain. The 21-year-old’s goal came after an exchange of goals between the teams in the final fifteen minutes of regulation where a penalty kick conversion from CA’s Zouhaier Dhaouadi was cancelled out by CSS and Mauritania national team forward Ismail Diakité’s equalizer five minutes later. CS Sfaxien will face second tier side AS Marsa in an attempt to win their seventh Coupe de Tunisie on September 10.
For the majority of the match it appeared that Club Africain would triumph. The best opportunity of the first half saw CA center back Nader Ghandri send a crashing header off the crossbar from a corner kick before young forward Youssed Snana sent a low shot just wide of the CSS goal early in the second half. In the 77th minute CA would finally get their reward when a VAR review detected a hand ball and Dhaouadi’s penalty just slipped underneath diving CSS goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen.
However five minutes later the home crowd was stunned when a cross from the left flank somehow bounced through a crowd of players and past CA keeper Saifeddine Charfi to Diakité, who nearly fluffed his chance but gathered himself to finish on a second attempt. After an uneventful extra time the decisive moment came for CSS in the third minute of stoppage time in the second half of extra time when a right wing cross picked out Neji for a perfectly placed strike that left Charfi helpless to make a save.
In the other semifinal on Friday, AS Marsa, a team who was playing in the third tier during the 2021-22 season, defeated Ligue 1 side US Ben Guerdane 1-0. Oussama Amdouni did excellently to keep his composure and finish after a USBG defender left his back pass short to allow Amdouni a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.
The full highlights of CS Sfaxien’s win over Club Africain is below followed by the winning goal from AS Marsa’s win on Friday.
Scores
Club Africain 1-2 CS Sfaxien (After extra time)
AS Marsa 1-0 US Ben Guerdane
Highlights
Club Africain 1-2 CS Sfaxien (After extra time)
AS Marsa 1-0 US Ben Guerdane