TUN – Tlatli, players seize the day

KUWAIT CITY (Olympics) - Adel Tlatli won't soon forget the words he uttered to his Tunisia players before they ran onto the floor to face in Angola in the Afrobasket 2011 title game on August 28.

It was, all Tunisians must agree, one of the greatest sporting days in the history of the country.

"I told my players, 'It's our chance today,'" Tlatli said to FIBA.com.

"I said it's your chance today to become first in Africa, to go to the Olympic Games.

"Every player in the world dreams to go to the Olympic Games."

The players, having lost 79-69 to Angola two years before in the Semi-Finals in Libya, listened intently.

Then they went out and beat Angola like a drum, 67-56, to clinch a spot in the London Games.

The victory capped a remarkable 11 days for Tunisia because they didn't lose a game in Madagascar, where the Afrobasket was staged.

They had to survive a tense Semi-Final against Ivory Coast, winning that 60-57, before overcoming the giant hurdle of Angola.

Shooting down the Angola legend

The Angolans had been the kings of Africa and even though they struggled in Madagascar, falling to Senegal and narrowly avoiding an upset against Cameroon, everyone expected them to overcome the Tunisians again.

When asked why Angola have been so good for so long in Africa, Tlatli responded: "It's not because they are a strong team. It's because they are an organized team.

"It's the first national team that has worked five or six months of the year.

"That's a problem for Nigeria, for Cameroon, who prepare for the African Championship for two weeks, or three weeks only.

"That's the difference between Angola and the other teams.

"But for us, we had time to prepare, too.

“We had two, three months to prepare for the African Championship and the (2010) World Championship."

For those teams that don't have the time to prepare?

"It's impossible to beat Angola," Tlatli said.

Even with the preparation, it was a daunting task going up against Angola, a country that had won every African title since 1989, bar 1997 when the event was staged in Dakar and was captured by Senegal.

"I have five or six players that are 30 years old and it (Afrobasket 2011) was the last chance for them," Tlati said.

"They had worked very hard in the national team for the past 11 years. And I said, 'It's your chance today. When you arrive in the Final, you can be the champions.’

"But if you are not the champions, I said second or third is the same thing because you go and play in the qualifications for the Olympic Games and then it will be difficult to be at the Olympic Games.”

Tunisia did have a good idea of how they would shape up against Angola.

"In 2009, when we played against them (Angola), we were near them,” Tlatli said.

"But they had more experience."

To win this year so convincingly is something that makes Tlatli very happy.

"It's a great accomplishment when we beat this team," he said,

"Four years ago, we were sixth in Angola and then third in Libya in 2009.

"Maybe this year, we felt we could stay in the same place or go to the Final.

"But we did a very good job.

"Maybe Angola played harder teams than us before the Final, but we think that we won this game tactically."

The big center

It helps a coach win tactically when he has a player like Salah Mejri on the floor.

The 2.17m center, who hails from the city of Jendouba, Tunisia, and plays for Antwerp Giants in Belgium’s top flight, and the EuroChallenge, dominated at the Afrobasket.

In the 86-67 Quarter-Final drubbing of Morocco, Mejri had 13 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Then in the three-point victory over Ivory Coast in the last four, he had 14 points, 12 boards, three swats and three steals.

While taking just three shots and scoring only two points in the title triumph over Angola, he had 15 rebounds and three blocks.

"I think for Salah, the big man, he learned something new when he went professional in Belgium," Tlatli said.

"He has a good coach (Eddy Casteels) there, a good agent and they have helped him for the last three years."

Mejri is not a player who has played the game for very long, either.

Tlatli can’t help but laugh when remembering Mejri’s first steps with the national side.

"When I called him to the national team, all of the newspapers said, 'What's he (Tlatli) doing? He doesn't play professional basketball," he recalled.

“What's he doing?' I can show you the newspaper. For this account, he's my son because he began to play in the senior team with me when he was just 18 years old."

Mejri was so good at the Afrobasket that he was named MVP of the event.

Building confidence in Turkey

By capturing bronze in 2009, Tunisia qualified for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey and that, Tlati says, was pivotal for the development of the national team.

"Yes, it made us better," Tlatli said.

"When we went to Turkey, we went there not to lose by 15 points.”

As it was, Tunisia lost all five of their games.

"After we played five games, we saw maybe a 22-point defeat to Slovenia, 15 points against Brazil,” Tlatli said.

“We saw that we are not near, but we can do something.

"This was the first time we played at this level.

“Before, we played second division teams in Europe, maybe Portugal, Georgia, Romania.

"But when you play with the top division teams of Europe and America, it gives you some confidence."

A coach’s dream

Tlatli deserves his time in the limelight.

He's been there with Tunisia, turning them into champions.

The veteran coach will be incredibly proud to travel to London.

"It's a dream for anyone to go to the Olympics," he said.

"It's a dream.

“Just to think of going is a dream.

"It's a big thing for this generation of players who worked very hard, and for the Tunisian people after the revolution."

Yes, bigger things than basketball are happening in Tunisia.

President Ben Ali was overthrown in January and Tunisia recently had democratic elections, the first after the Arab Spring uprisings.

When asked about the change in Tunisia, Tlatli, who is working as a basketball consultant in Kuwait for several months before returning to Tunisia, said: "We have to change. We changed the president, but we need more time and we have to work hard. We have to work for the future, for our sons, because in the months after the revolution, we speak and we don't work.

"Everyone is now in politics but we need to have good economics and we have to work hard. That is real democracy. You have to work for your country."

Jeff Taylor
FIBA