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On the eve of meeting Senegal in the semi-finals, Alain Giresse, coach of Tunisia, talks about his memories and links with the Lions. Above all, the French coach expresses his pride in seeing what has become of players like Idrissa Guèye or Sadio Mané whom he has led in selection. But despite these feelings, he is aware that his team can achieve the feat of beating Aliou Cissé's team on Sunday.
Collected by our special envoys in Cairo,
Alain Giresse, in the first round before Tunisia-Mali (1-1), you said that it is not necessarily a pleasure to find a country you had trained (Mali). Do you have the same feeling before meeting Senegal Sunday in semifinals?
Yes ! It's not a pleasure to find a team, players, leaders with whom you have worked and shared moments. All of a sudden I find myself a competitor of a team that I trained to win. There, it will be the opposite. I can not blame Senegal. I can not fault him because my departure was wanted in relation to a specific context and not in relation to something that I blame the players or the federation. There is not even a feeling of revenge on my part. There are many who imagine that I am revenge, but they are mistaken. This is their problem. There are ways to approach things and if they are there, I pity the poor. My orientation is elsewhere, the proof, I'm in the semifinals.
" What Idrissa Guèye says touches me a lot "
What is special about playing against your old team?
There is always a moment that is quite personal that I live, it's the hymns. I know the hymn of Mali, I know the hymn of Senegal. These are sounds that I listened to. The red Lion roaring (the hymn of Senegal) I know him. I made it a point to learn the lyrics of each hymn. Then there are little things like when you meet the players. I even had the return of Senegalese players who are no longer in selection who have mentioned this match. There were good players in this Senegal team and others who are there and whom I have known ...
As Idrissa Guèye certainly who told us that you had kept in touch and that you had brought him a lot. So there will inevitably be an emotion in crossing these players that you had in selection of Senegal ?
( It feels moved, almost on the verge of tears) Your question is a question a little tricky. Through what you just said you make me go into something that is very dear to me and very personal: these relations with the players. Idrissa says it and it touches me a lot because I think people will be able to say and say anything they want, I prefer to hear that. And it comforts me if I needed it in relation to everything that could be said about me. When Sadio (Mané) says to me: " coach I am waiting for you in Liverpool ", these are very personal things and despite all that could be said, I do not regret my passage in Senegal and I am the happiest of men when I see what these players are doing today, it makes me proud to have directed.
" Senegal's players are maturing "
In the group of Senegal in this CAN, there are a dozen players that you have directed. Do you somewhere claim some legacy on this current group ...
Not at all. Simply, I was not mistaken in this team. Remember that it was necessary to rebuild after a difficult 2012 CAN for Senegal (three defeats in three games), it was necessary to make players leave, bring new ones and help others to assert themselves as Idrissa, Sadio. No, I do not claim anything, but if they are here today, it is because I had started a process that over time could bear fruit. Aliou (Cissé) understood it perfectly and relied on this base to build his team.
What is your opinion of your successor Aliou Cissé ?
(Smiling) Aliou, we know each other well, I was his coach (PSG) and we always had good relations in Senegal. He coached the Olympics and we exchanged a lot on the players. Now, it is a pleasure to see him as when we met at the CAN 2019 draw. These are healthy relations frankly. Senegal is a good memory with people that I have not scratched my career and that too is a beautiful story.
How do you find this team from Senegal, version 2019 ?
Seductive. It is all the more attractive as it has matured, as players have taken a real dimension of international players in big clubs. They mature. This is a team that missed very little qualification in the round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup. There, she is a favorite for this CAN and she is at the rendezvous. I have a lot of respect for this team
Sunday what can oppose it Tunisia which one has the impression that it has less reservoir and potential ?
We have a potential that is more a collective potential than an individual. We will rely on that obviously to upset this Senegalese team. We can not compare player by player, but through the collective, the tactical ability, the means we have to get out the ball, we can get favorable situations in front of the goal Senegal. We can also count on players like (Youssef) Msakni or (Wahbi) Khazri who took a little time to get into this CAN, but who have found their way to the goal on the last matches.