We fear Sterling more than Kane: Tunisia coach Maaloul

Tunisia’snational coach said yesterday he will fear England’s Raheem Sterlingmore than Harry Kane, when the two countries play against each other inthe World Cup finals this year. Nabil Maaloul was speaking in Doha,where the Tunisian national team are preparing for Russia with a 14-daywinter training camp at the Aspire Zone.Tunisia will meet England intheir first game in World Cup Group G, which also contains Belgium andPanama. Asked about his country’s prospects in the opening match, andspecific players, Maaloul pointed to the threat from the Manchester Citystar rather than the Tottenham forward and English captain.“Themost dangerous player for me is Sterling, I think he is one of the bestplayers,” Maaloul said. “People say that Harry Kane is the biggest riskbut I think Raheem Sterling is the one. He is the biggest threat as aplayer.”He added: “It’s a young team, it’s changed in recent years.The kind of English football has changed a lot after they hired coacheslike Guardiola or Conte. It’s a new kind of football, but we are goingto be prepared.”Tunisia will be appearing in their fifth World Cupin Russia. Their first was in Argentina in 1978 where, despite beatingMexico and drawing with West Germany, they failed to make it out of thegroup stage. Indeed, Tunisia have yet to reach the knockout stagesand Russia could prove tough with top seed Belgium ranked number five inthe world and England at 15.“We are going to be in a very difficultgroup,” said Maaloul. “We are going to play Belgium and England but wehave started our preparations. For both teams we have preparations weare thinking about.” Tunisia, ranked 27, will play Belgium in theirsecond group game.Maaloul spoke highly of their training campfacilities at Aspire Zone, and said: “This isn’t our first time inAspire, we’ve entered a previous training camp in 2013.”Talkingabout Tunisia’s ambition in Russia, he said: “With the 2018 FIFA WorldCup Russia five months away, our purpose is to make sure we put on anhonourable performance that will make Tunisians and all Arabs proud,that’s our goal. To do that, we need to change the mentality of theplayers and equip them with a professional attitude to prepare thememotionally for the competition. We have the Tunisian team’s bestinterest at heart, and we choose what we think is the best for them.” Headded: “We’re fortunate to have been given the opportunity from AspireZone and the Tunisian Football Federation to come here for training. Thetraining camp has been successful on all levels. It’s great to be ableto have access to such world-class facilities, and medical andhospitality services that are perfectly placed in one place. Aspire Zonehas provided us with everything we need, and the training was made evenbetter thanks to the amazing weather. The facilities in Aspire Zone areunlike any other in the world, and it is one of the best in the entireworld. We’re very happy with the support we’ve received from the peoplein Qatar, and particularly the Tunisian residents who were keen toattend our training session for support.” When asked to give hisopinion on the performance of Qatar team, who are currently competing atthe 2018 the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Championship, Maaloul,said: “The Olympic national team’s excellent run at the AFC-U23championship (having qualified for the quarter-finals) was made possiblebecause the youth team has been practising and entering training campstogether for years, so they’re more accustomed to each other’s style ofplay. Their coach is also doing a great job. The team has some very keyplayers, and 80% of them are expected to be seen representing Qatar atthe 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.”Aspire Zone’s Mohammed Mubarakal-Kuwari, Chief Marketing Officer at AZF, also said: “We’re honoured tohave the Tunisian national team train here at Aspire, and wecongratulate them on their 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia qualification.This training camp shortly follows the recently concluded training campsfor FC Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, who have returned toAspire Zone during the winter break for many years. Aspire Zone is proudto house various elite training camps each year in line with theirmission to elevate sports in Qatar and become the Reference in SportsExcellence Worldwide by 2020.” Meanwhile, goalkeeper AymenMathlouthi and Captain of the Tunisian national team, said: “We’ve beenin Doha for 15 days and everyone’s been very pleased with our time here.We’re currently focusing on honing our technical skills and get thenecessary medical assessments completed to ensure we’re as fit as we canbe.”