28.12. (Wed) 20:45 Basque Country v Tunisia

PROBABLE LINEUPS

BASQUE COUNTRY Iraizoz Iraola, Amorebieta, San Jose, AurtenetxeGabilondo, Alonso Susaeta, Iturraspe, EtxebarriaToquero

TUNISIA Jeridi Ifa, Abdennour, Hichri, Chammam Korbi, Traoui Msakni, Darragi, Dhaouadi Chermiti

The Basque Country coaching duo of Jose Maria Ammorrortu and Mikel Etxarri have called up 22 players for this encounter against the visiting Carthage Eagles. The two have replaced former player Javier Iruretra in the position and are continuing the trend of relying primarily on Athletic Club players while spicing up the team with new arrivals such as Rico, Benat Etxebarria, Carlos Martinez, and Inigo Martinez.
"Tunisia is a team that plays the ball well and that instils a fast pace on the game. We watched their last three matches which confirmed that they were a competitive and very tough team to play against," said Ammorrortu while speaking to lepjb recently.
Meanwhile, Sami Trabelsi has called up a 25-man team but is not able to rely on all of his European-based players as many were unable to get clearance from their clubs to play the two friendlies against Basque Country and Catalonia this week. Thus, integral elements such as Karim Haggui, Sami Allagui, Ammar Jemal, Jemal Saihi, Sabeur Khelifa and a number of others will miss out on these initial preparations for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
On the other hand, after having to do without them in a 1-0 loss away to Algeria, Trabelsi will be pleased to have the spinal cord of his team back, which is composed mainly of players from Caf Champions League winners and Club World Cup participants Esperance.

DID YOU KNOW?

• This is the first time that Basque Country and Tunisia will face each other in a friendly.

• This is only the fifth time that Basque Country is playing against African opposition. The previous games were against Nigeria, Morocco, Ghana and Cameroon.

• A return match in Tunis is in the works for sometime in 2013. The date still hasn't been set but there is an agreement in principle by both federations.

• There is a chance that we'll see both Msakni brothers (Iheb and Youssef) on the field together during this encounter for the first time in their national team careers.