Sellimi sacked

Tunisia drops fourth player in two days

TUNIS (Reuters) -- World Cup finalists Tunisia have dropped striker Adel Sellimi after he refused to join the squad for a friendly in Spain, the country's soccer federation said Thursday.

"Adel Sellimi was dismissed from the national squad after he refused to travel to Spain and take part in the team preparations ahead of the African Nations Cup finals," the federation said in a statement.

Sellimi was the fourth player to be jettisoned by Tunisia this week for reasons other than performance. Le Quotidien newspaper said he had been replaced by Club Bizertin's Jamel Zabi.

Goalkeeper Mohamed Zouabi, striker Imed Benyounes and defender Mohamed Mkacher were dismissed this week following violent incidents in recent club matches.

The Federation said Sellimi, who plays at SC Freiburg in Germany, argued that his club had made the renewal of his contract conditional on him staying away from the African Cup finals.

"Sellimi is putting his own interests above the national squad interests," the Federation said.

Esperance de Tunis's Zouabi and Etoile du Sahel's Mkacher were among players involved in violence at a game Sunday in the coastal city of Sousse. Etoile beat Esperance 2-0.

Benyounes, from Club Sfaxien, was punished for punching Hammam Lif coach Ridha Akacha a week ago when the two clubs played a first division match in the southern town of Sfax.

Tunisia's French coach Henri Michel has replaced Benyounes, Mkacher and Zouabi in his 22-man squad for Thursday's friendly against an Andalucian side.

"An international player has a responsibility to respect some rules and anyone who infringes such rules has no place in the national team," Michel told Le Quotidien

Tunisia will play Liberia in a friendly Sunday in Tunis before the African Nations Cup finals begin on January 19 in Mali.

Tunisia is drawn in group H for next year's World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan. It faces co-host Japan, Belgium and Russia.

It will be the third time Tunisia has played in the World Cup finals after 1978 and 1998.

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