Tunisia goes cup final crazy
By CNN's Graham Jones
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Moroccan fans cheer their team on in the semi-final against Mali.
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TUNIS, Tunisia (CNN) -- Football frenzy is gripping the Tunisian capital this weekend as the host team takes on fierce north African rivals Morocco in the final of soccer's African Nations Cup.
Such is the charged atmosphere that the price of black-market tickets for Saturday's match at the 65,000-seat Rades stadium in Tunis has gone though the roof.
A 7 dinar ($6) ticket before the game was going for 30 dinars ($25) -- around a week's wages -- and a 50 dinar ($42) best-seat-in-the-stadium fetched 300 dinars ($250).
"People are chasing tickets like they are gold," says Africa Soccer Magazine editor Emmanuel Maradas, who has been reporting on the tournament for CNN. "The build-up to the final here has been incredible."
All week cars with horns blaring and flags waving have been parading the red-and-white of the national team, and soccer writers have put Tunisia favorites on the basis of their "intimidating crowd."
On Saturday the sea of red-and-white is due to be joined by a red-green-and-white army as 10,000 Moroccans arrive from Casablanca on a fleet of 10 airplanes -- including two jumbo jets -- and a passenger ship.
This has been a tournament dominated by former French colonies in north Africa. Before their team was knocked out by Morocco, Algerian fans showing similar passion -- right up to a mini-riot.
Although most of the other teams had a small band of traveling fans, from a few dozen to several hundred, they could not, in such numbers, bring an all-Africa atmosphere to the contest.
Young fan: A Tunisian woman feeds her baby during the Nigeria game.
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Says Maradas: "The north African teams just tried harder. They practiced more. The big boys of African football -- Cameroon and Nigeria -- arrived thinking they were sure to make the final."
On Wednesday night, Tunisia upset the form-book when they beat Nigeria in the semi-final on penalties to set up a final clash against Morocco. Since then, Tunisians have gone football crazy.
Street vendors have been selling Tunisian flags and jerseys on street corners, huge flags are draped out of windows in houses and apartments, and in cafes and shops there is just one main topic of conversation.
Throughout Thursday several thousand fans besieged the offices of the Tunisian football federation in the hope of being able to buy a ticket for Saturdays final.
There is more than just national pride at stake in the Moroccan clash.
Tunisia, population 10 million, has been seen as playing second fiddle for years to its more illustrious sporting rivals from further west. (Morocco's population is 32 million.)
The most famous sporting Tunisian is remembered for all the wrong reasons -- at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur was one of the few people not to spot that Diego Maradona had employed his infamous "Hand of God" to score against England.
It was Bennaceur's first and last match as a World Cup referee.
On the field at the World Cup, Tunisia has qualified three times but has won just one game. On their debut in 1978, Tunisia beat Mexico 3-1 and held Germany 0-0 but failed to make it to the second round.
By contrast, Morocco played in the 1986 World Cup, topped a group which included England and Portugal, and were only undone in the second round by a 1-0 defeat to Germany. The Moroccans also can boast an African Nations Cup title which they secured back in 1976.
Tunisia has more to play for in Saturday's final than the African title. Officials are hoping that if they can successfully stage the spectacle with fans' tempers contained by thousands of police, they will be in line to hold soccer's World Cup itself in 2010.
There has been just one major incident in the tournament so far.
The Algerian Football Federation was fined $15,000 for supporters' "anti-sporting behavior" the quarter-final against Morocco in Sfax last Sunday. After going down to a 3-1 defeat against Morocco, Algerian fans began ripping up plastic seats. Sixty-nine people were hurt in the mayhem.
The federation was ordered to pay $18,000 for damage to the stadium.
Apart from the Algerian fans, there has been little trouble to besmirch the organizers' reputations -- save for the wrong national anthem being played twice, to the annoyance of Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
Although slight favorites, Tunisia go into Saturday's final without their captain, Khaled Badra, who was suspended after picking up two yellow cards in successive games.
They have former France boss Roger Lemerre as coach and, in the team, Brazilian striker Francileudo dos Santos, who took Tunisian nationality in time to make his debut last month. He has scored four goals so far.
The Morocco side under former World Cup goalkeeper Badou Ezaki has proved a ready source of flowing, attacking football, and their 4-0 thrashing of much-fancied Mali in the semi-finals showed what they can do if the team gels.
