Eddie Mungai

Sevilla FC striker Wissam Ben Yedder got football fans’ attention Tuesday, as he single-handedly eliminated English stalwarts Manchester United from the UEFA Champions League in the Round of 16. As a 72nd minute substitute, he scored two crucial away goals in the span of four minutes, putting Sevilla up 0-2 for the night (and on aggregate), as the match ended 1-2. I was shocked with the outcome, for I was certain after the Ben Yedder goals United would score three late goals to escape the tie and advance to the quarterfinals. But Ben Yedder did the business.

With performances like that, he should be heading to the World Cup, representing Les Bleus (France). He does have experience playing for the U21 France team (and he just earned his first call-up to the national team) but the 27-year-old is still eligible to represent the nation of his heritage: Tunisia (that is, if he doesn’t make an appearance for France in either the Colombia or Russia game during the international break). The Tunisian National Team is in a tougher group than France, but Ben Yedder will be guaranteed playing time for the Carthage Eagles. However, France is inundated with strikers (Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Anthony Martial, Alexandre Lacazette, Kylian Mbappé, need I say more?) and he would likely serve as an emergency replacement in case of injury to those strikers.

Even though the France national team has players tracing their heritage to Sub-Saharan and North African countries, most of them choose to play for France. However, the rocky racism rows in France involving immigrants and Beurs (Arabs in French) have been suggested to adversely influence the personnel selected to the national team over the last few years. Former Manchester United and Les Bleus striker Eric Cantona believes France Head Coach Didier Deschamps is racist and his squad selection is influenced by the unpleasant national discourse surrounding Beurs in France. Cantona attributes that to the omission of Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa of Algerian and Tunisian heritage respectively (although it’s worth mentioning Benzema’s absence from the team is heavily influenced by his possible involvement in blackmailing France teammate Mathieu Valbuena). If we take Cantona’s claim into consideration, could Ben Yedder’s inclusion be a political ploy to appease concerns about the lack of Beurs on the team?

It could be a slim possibility. During the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, three Beurs were selected: defender Adil Rami (Moroccan descent), defender Jordan Amavi (Tunisian descent) and attacker Nabil Fékir (Algerian descent). Out of 10 World Cup qualifier matches, Rami was selected in four games and played zero minutes. Amavi was selected in two games and played zero minutes as well. Fékir was selected for five matches and played in three games, for a combined 17 minutes. Players of North African descent played 17 minutes out of a possible 900 minutes (2%). Some would argue, however, that there aren’t a lot of good players of North African descent to choose from, as the likes of Ben Arfa or Samir Nasri aren’t good enough to make the team. Could Cantona be concerned with the playing time of Beurs instead? That certainly is an alarming statistic. But with the abundance of talented French strikers vying for a World Cup spot, Ben Yedder (if he makes the final squad) looks to be on the bench for the entirety of the tournament.

I personally would like to see Ben Yedder switch his allegiance and play for Tunisia. He would get more playing time and would be part of something historic if Tunisia manages to escape their group with England and Belgium favorites to advance. Let’s see if he makes an appearance during the international break.