News Focus
- Tunisia coach Sabri Lamouchi removes teenager from World Cup plans
- The player’s father told the coach his son was not ready for the tournament
- Louey Ben Farhat refused to answer the coach’s follow-up calls
- The 19-year-old attacker has attracted interest from top German clubs
- The Karlsruhe forward made his international debut last month
A father’s telephone call has ended a young footballer’s dream of playing at the World Cup. Tunisia manager Sabri Lamouchi has left Karlsruhe attacker Louey Ben Farhat out of his squad. The coach took this decision after the player’s father contacted him directly.
The 19-year-old striker has impressed scouts from several Bundesliga teams. However, his father telephoned Lamouchi last week. He told the coach that his son needed more time before playing in major international tournaments.
Lamouchi tried to contact the player to discuss the situation. The former France international said Ben Farhat did not pick up his phone. Because of this, the coach decided to exclude the teenager from the final squad list.
Ben Farhat was born in Germany. He missed the first part of the season with an injury. Despite this, he performed very well for Karlsruhe during the second half of the campaign. The young forward earned his first caps for Tunisia during friendly matches against Haiti and Canada last month.