THERE WAS DISAPPOINTMENT for former League of Ireland player Aymen Ben Mohamed in the Club World Cup on Saturday, as he missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the competition with Espérance de Tunis (ES Tunis).
Ben Mohamed — who has previously played for UCD, Bohemians and Longford Town — was part of the Tunisian side who suffered a 3-0 defeat to Al Ain on Saturday.
The result means that Al Ain will now go on to face River Plate in the semi-finals.
They were the better side throughout against the CAF Champions League winners, progressing thanks to goals from Mohamed Ahmad, Hussein Elshahat and Bandar Al Ahbabi.
Ahmad put his side in front after only two minutes, leaping well to head home from a corner.
That lead was doubled 14 minutes later when the lively Elshahat turned in the box and curled a neat finish beyond ES Tunis keeper Moez Ben Cherifia.
Al Ahbabi completed the scoring on the hour mark, tapping in from six yards after getting on the end of a Caio cutback.
Tempers flared in the closing stages when an Elshahat challenge drew an angry reaction from the ES Tunis players. His holding up of three fingers to signify the scoreline did little to appease the opposition.
The semi-final takes place on Tuesday, with Real Madrid set to face Kashima Antlers a day later.
Ben Mohamed moved to Dublin with his family when he was two years of age. He began his career in the League of Ireland with UCD before going on to have spells with Longford Town and Bohemians.
He previously featured in a home-based Republic of Ireland U21 squad and he received a senior call-up from Tunisia during his time at Bohs in 2016.
He signed for Espérance shortly after and made his international debut in a 2-1 win over Niger which sealed Tunisia’s place in the African Nations Cup.
Additional reporting by Sinead Farrell
Murray Kinsella, Gavan Casey and Eddie O’Sullivan preview another big weekend of Heineken Cup action and dissect the week’s main talking points.
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