After a promising goalless draw against Denmark in their World Cup opener, Tunisia disappointed fans by losing 1-0 to Australia despite being favourites heading into the game. The Carthage Eagles are one of just a few teams who have failed to find the net after the opening two matchdays of this tournament and now face the daunting reality of needing to beat reigning world champions France, whilst hoping that Australia don’t beat Denmark in Group D’s other fixture, to have a chance to reach the knockout stages for the first time ever.
A draw in that other group game would likely be the best scenario, as a Denmark win would force Tunisia to win by a greater goal margin than the Danes and considering their last victory by a 2+ margin in the World Cup finals goes back to their very first game in the competition (a 3-1 win against Mexico during Argentina 1978) that could prove a step too far. To make matters worse they might have to do it with less support than usual with reports suggesting that many disappointed Tunisian fans have resold their tickets for this upcoming match.
Thanks to their 2-1 victory over Denmark on Saturday, after beating Australia 4-1 in their World Cup opener, France became the first nation to book their ticket to the knockout phase of Qatar 2022. Les Bleus also put an end to a curse that has plagued European reigning world champions for a decade, as since 2002, all European nations that won the previous World Cup have not made it out of the group stage of the following edition, a run started with France themselves in 2002, followed by Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014 and Germany in 2018.
This final group game is an opportunity for coach Didier Deschamps to rotate his squad considering that even if the French lose, only a massive win by Australia would prevent them from winning Group D. However, they would be well advised to triumph here, as they went on to win the competition the only other time they won all three group games (1998) and an unbeaten H2H record (W2, D2) against Tunisia suggests they are on track to achieve that group-stage feat once again.
Players to watch: Tunisia will hope Youssef Msakni can find the net, given he has led his nation to victory in 12 of his 14 goalscoring international matches (D2). Scorer of two goals against Denmark, Kylian Mbappé has overtaken Thierry Henry (six goals) as France’s second-highest World Cup scorer, and the youngster is now just six goals away from the legendary Just Fontaine (13 goals).
Hot stat: France have alternately won and lost in their last five World Cup games against CAF nations (W3, L2), bookended by a 2-0 win against Nigeria in 2014.
World Cup trivia: The only two African nations not to score in the group stage of a World Cup were Algeria in 2010, and Zaire (DRC) in 1974.
