Tunisia bid farewell to the “Qatar 2022” World Cup, with its head held high, despite its historic victory over France, with a goal without a response, on Wednesday, at the end of Group D competitions.
The “Carthage Eagles” presented a distinguished first half, during which they proved their early presence with a white goal scored by Nader Ghandari, which was canceled by the referee, with a signal from his assistant, on the grounds of offside, 8 minutes after the start.
On the other hand, the French national team entered the meeting with a squad of reserve elements after ensuring its qualification to the next round, and it was satisfied with a conservative performance that did not disturb the Tunisian defense except on a single occasion with a shot from Kingsley Coman.
The Tunisians tried to reach the net of the “cocks” with two dangerous attempts through a header from Anis Ben Suleiman, and a strong left shot from Wahbi Khazri had veteran goalkeeper Steve Mandanda present.
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The advantage of the Tunisian national team was translated into a deserved goal in the 58th minute, after a ball was cut by Issa Al-Aidouni in the middle of the field, then passed it to Al-Khazri, who ran with it and dribbled, then shot to the right of Mandanda, unleashing the Tunisian and Arab fans on the stands of the “Education City” stadium.
After the Tunisian progress, French coach Didier Deschamps involved Adrien Rabiot, Clyan Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Osman Dembele in an effort to adjust, but the Eagles remained vigilant in front of the roosters’ attacks and maintained their progress until the end that declared the first victory for an Arab team over France in the World Cup finals.
The Tunisian national team’s joy in the historic victory was not complete by qualifying, after Australia’s victory over Denmark with a single goal scored by Matthew Alan Leckie at the 60th minute in another match that took place at the same time in the same group.
In light of these results, France topped the Group D standings with 6 points, followed by Australia, which caused a surprise and accompanied it to the round of 16 with the same balance.
While Tunisia ranked third with 4 points, and finally Denmark with one point.