Tunisia's Chaouki Ben Saada Regrets African Cup Of Nations Participation

In an interview with Nice-Matin, Tunisian international playmaker Chaouki Ben Saada has revealed that he feels like his decision to respond favorably to his call-up to the Carthage Eagles for the African Cup of Nations might have been a mistake.

“I only played 80 minutes in three matches. Plus, during that time, I was upset when I saw OGC Nice’s results,” he explained, referring to the four consecutive losses his club suffered in his absence during the month of January.

Asked whether seeing those scorelines made him feel like he should have stayed in France the player responded by saying: “Yes, that crossed my mind. I told myself that I would have done better to stay.”

His opinion is unlikely to be popular in the North African country where football fans are still fuming at Fahid Ben Khalfallah’s decision to abandon the side a fortnight before the AFCON tournament was to commence.

Meanwhile, Ben Saada was also asked his opinion on how CAF handled the attack on the Togolese team bus and what he thought of the sanctions against them.

“It’s unbelievable, scandalous. Where is the understanding of the human tragedy? The right decision would have been simply to cancel the competition after an attack during which three people lost their lives,” he said.