Tunisia name their squad for the Africa Cup of Nations
Last updated on .From the section Football
Tunisia have dropped three players from their 26-man preliminary 2012 Africa Cup of Nations squad.
The trio cut from the squad named on 3 January are defenders Walid Hicheri, Mohamed Ali Yaacoubi and midfielder Iheb Mskani, who all play in Tunisia.
Mejdi Traoui, who missed training on Tuesday, makes the final 23 as does top-scorer Issam Jemaa.
The squad are currently preparing in Dubai, where they will play Ivory Coast in a friendly on Friday.
The Cathage Eagles, who won the Nations Cup on home soil in 2004, beat Sudan 3-0 on Monday in another friendly.
Tunisia have also spent time preparing in Spain, where they beat the Basque Country 2-0 and drew 0-0 with Catalonia in the two matches they played there in late December.
The 2012 African Cup will be played from 21 January to 12 February in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Tunisia kick off their campaign against the Atlas Lions of Morocco in Libreville on 23 January, before playing Niger in the Gabonese capital on 27 January.
They then travel to Franceville to play the co-hosts in their final group game on 31 January.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Rami Jeridi (Stade Tunisien), Aymen Mathlouthi (Etoile du Sahel), Moez Ben Cherifia (Esperance)
Defenders: Khalil Chammam (Esperance), Anis Boussaidi (Rostov, Russia), Aymen Abdennour (Toulouse, France), Bilel Iffa (Club Africain), Karim Haggui (Hannover, Germany), Ammar Jemal (FC Cologne, Germany)
Midfielders: Adel Chedli (Etoile du Sahel), Oussama Darragui (Esperance), Mejdi Traoui (Esperance), Khaled Korbi (Esperance), Wissem Ben Yahia (Mersin, Turkey), Yassine Chikhaoui (FC Zurich, Switzerland), Hocine Ragued (Karabukspor, Turkey), Jamel Saihi (Montpellier, France)
Forwards: Issam Jemaa (Auxerre, France), Zouhaier Dhaouadi (Club Africain), Youssef Msakni (Esperance), Saber Khelifa (Evian, France), Amine Chermiti (FC Zurich, Switzerland), Sami Allagui (Mainz, Germany)
