Esperance secured a 1-0 win away to CS Hammam-Lif this Sunday afternoon at the Municipal Stadium of Hammam-Lif, on Matchday 4 of the Ligue 1 season. A hard-earned victory in difficult conditions, decided by Marouane Sahraoui’s second-half goal.
The first challenge was the particularly poor condition of the pitch at the Hammam-Lif stadium. Playing attractive football and building attacks as usual was difficult under such circumstances. For the Blood and Gold, who are not used to playing on such a poor surface, this was always going to be a complicated game.
Esperance nevertheless found the net early on. In the 14th minute, Maël Monyebe broke forward down the right before sending a cross towards Konaté. The Blood and Gold midfielder controlled intelligently before calmly beating Moez Ben Chérifia with a fine finish. The goal was initially awarded, before the referee was called to the VAR monitor and overturned the decision for a suspected offside.
A few minutes before half-time, another VAR intervention once again changed the referee’s decision. In the 41st minute, he awarded CS Hammam-Lif a penalty for a foul that only he appeared to have seen. After reviewing the footage, he overturned his decision, with the Hammam-Lif attacker having clearly looked to win the foul.
In added time, Raed Chikhaoui was himself the victim of an obvious foul inside the CS Hammam-Lif penalty area. Yet the referee did not award a penalty, and VAR did not intervene to ask him to review his decision. A missed opportunity for Esperance to take the lead before the break.
At half-time, Reghecampf decided to make major changes to his attacking setup, bringing on three players. Youcef Belaïli, Lucas Ribeiro and Florian Danho entered the game with the aim of adding more pace and attacking threat.
The pressure gradually intensified. By the 55th minute, Esperance were pushing hard and the opening goal seemed close.
It arrived a minute later. Lucas Ribeiro delivered a corner into the near-post area, where Marouane Sahraoui rose above everyone else and headed the ball beyond Ben Chérifia. 0-1 to Esperance.
With the lead secured, the Blood and Gold continued to look for a second goal. In the 75th minute, Konaté produced another fine piece of play before unleashing a powerful shot that Ben Chérifia had to turn behind for a corner.
Ribeiro continued to pose a threat from set pieces. From another corner, Danho’s header went just wide in the 77th minute. Four minutes later, the Blood and Gold forward was found by Mohamed Dräger, but Ben Chérifia was there once again to keep the score unchanged.
Danho, again, had another opportunity in the 87th minute with a diving header, but the Hammam-Lif goalkeeper made another save.
Esperance therefore had several chances to put the game beyond doubt but could not add a second goal. In the end, it did not matter: 1-0 was enough.
CS Hammam-Lif, for their part, failed to register a single shot on target throughout the match. In a game made difficult by a very poor pitch and a first half marked by several controversial refereeing decisions, the most important thing is there: three more points and a third win of the season for the Blood and Gold.
Esperance can now head into the international break with a positive record and, above all, another win in the bag.
EST lineup: Essid, Dräger, Sahraoui, Chikhaoui (Jelassi 66'), Elaifi, Rafia(c), Belhadj-Mahmoud (Hadj-Ali 83'), Konaté, Monyebe (Ribeiro 46'), Faraj (Belaïli 46') and Mastouri (Danho 46').
Booked: Konaté, Sahraoui, Belaïli.