Football World Cup 2018 / Tunisia

Football World Cup 2018 : Tunisia
Trainer	Nabil Maaloul
captain	Aymen Mathlouthi / Wahbi Khazri
Qualified as	Winner Africa Group A
World rankings before the tournament	21st
Tournament result	Out in the preliminary round
Games won	1
Games tie	0
Games lost	2
Gates	5: 8

This article covers the Tunisian national football team at the 2018 World Cup . Tunisia entered the finals for the fifth time but had never made it through the group stage before. At the World Cup, Tunisia started as the best-placed African team in the FIFA world rankings .

qualification

The team qualified for the World Cup in Russia through the qualifying matches of the African Football Association CAF .

Games

Tunisia began qualifying under Polish coach Henryk Kasperczak , who finished third as a player with Poland in 1974. In April 2017, he was replaced by the former Tunisian international Nabil Maaloul , who had already temporarily looked after the team in qualifying for the previous World Cup. Tunisia did not have to intervene until the second round and met Mauritania on both legs . The third round was reached with two 2-1 wins. This was played as a group stage and Tunisia met in Group A against the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Guinea and Libya . In the six resulting matches, the Tunisian team won four and played twice. The Tunisians scored at least one goal in all but the last game, but only two in the first half. However, the Tunisians only qualified as group winners on the last day of the match with a goalless draw in their home game against Libya. If they had lost, the Democratic Republic of the Congo would have overtaken as they would have had the better goal difference.

A total of 35 players were used; 15 of them were also in the squad for the African Cup of Nations 2017 , in which Tunisia was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Only Ali Maâloul and goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi appeared in all eight games, with Mathlouthi being replaced by Rami Jridi after 27 minutes in the second game against Mauritania , who made his only appearance. A year later, at the start of the second round, Mathlouthi took over the captaincy from Yassine Chikhaoui . The top scorer was Youssef Msakni with three goals, all of which he scored in the 4-1 win over Guinea. A total of twelve players contributed at least one goal, plus an own goal by a player from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Second round

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goal scorers for Tunisia
Nov 13, 2015	Nouakchott	Mauritania	-	Tunisia	1: 2 (1: 0)	Wahbi Khazri (61.), Yassine Chikhaoui (69.)
Nov 17, 2015	Radès	Tunisia	-	Mauritania	2: 1 (0: 0)	Syam Ben Youssef (51st), Saad Bguir (83rd)

Third round

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goal scorers for Tunisia
0Oct 9, 2016	Monastir	Tunisia	-	Guinea	2: 0 (0: 0)	Aymen Abdennour (58th), Änis Ben-Hatira (79th)
Nov 11, 2016	Algiers ( DZA )	Libya	-	Tunisia	0: 1 (0: 0)	Wahbi Khazri (50th / penalty)
0Sep 1 2017	Radès	Tunisia	-	Congo DR	2: 1 (1: 1)	Yassine Meriah (18th / penalty), Ghailene Chaalali (47.)
05th Sep 2017	Kinshasa	Tunisia	-	Congo DR	2: 2 (1: 0)	Own goal Congo DR (77th), Anice Badri (78th)
0Oct 7, 2017	Conakry	Guinea	-	Tunisia	1: 4 (1: 1)	Youssef Msakni (45th, 74th, 90th), Mohamed Amine Ben Amor (83th)
Nov 11, 2017	Radès	Tunisia	-	Libya	0-0

Third round final table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Tunisia	6th	4th	2	0	011: 400	+7	14th
2.	Democrat Republic of the Congo	6th	4th	1	1	014: 700	+7	13
3.	Libya	6th	1	1	4th	004:100	−6	04th
4th	Guinea	6th	1	0	5	006:140	−8	03

preparation

Games

date	Result	opponent	venue	Goal scorers for Tunisia
23 March 2018	1-0	Iran	Radès	Milad Mohammadi (71st / own goal)
March 27, 2018	1-0	Costa Rica	Nice ( FRA )	Wahbi Khazri (36th)
May 28, 2018	2: 2	Portugal	Braga	Anice Badri (39th), Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (64th)
June 1, 2018	2: 2	Turkey	Sion ( CHE )	Anice Badri (56th), Ferjani Sassi (79th)
June 9, 2018	0: 1	Spain	Krasnodar ( RUS )

Quarter

The team's quarters were the “Imperial Park Hotel & Spa” in Rogozinino, near Moscow , where the team could use the Stroitel Stadium for training purposes.

Squad

A preliminary roster of 35 players was nominated on May 14th. The final squad of 23 players must be reported to FIFA by June 4th. No player has played in a World Cup finals so far, as all of them only played their first international game after their last World Cup participation, where coach Nabil Maaloul was assistant coach. Youssef Msakni , the best Tunisian scorer in qualifying, could not be considered because he tore his cruciate ligament in April. On June 2nd the squad reduced to 23 players was announced. Were canceled Moez Ben Cherifia (gate), Ahmed Akaïchi , Khalil Chammam , Karim Laaribi , Mohamed Larbi Wael and Bilel Mohsni . On June 27, after goalkeepers Hassen and Ben Mustapha lost their game due to injuries, Moez Ben Cherifia, a substitute for the last remaining goalkeeper Mathlouthi, had to be flown in.

position	No.	Surname	birth date	Calls	Gates	society	debut	Last use
goal	16	Aymen Mathlouthi	09/14/1984	71	0	al-Batin	2007	06/09/2018	1
	01	Farouk Ben Mustapha	07/01/1989	15th	0	al-Shabab	2012	03/23/2018	2
	22nd	Hate Mouez	05.03.1995	3	0	LB Châteauroux	2018	06/01/2018	1
Defense	06th	Rami Bedoui	January 19, 1990	10	0	Étoile Sportive du Sahel	2012	07.10.2017	1
	03	Yohan Benalouane	03/23/1987	4th	0	Leicester City	2018	06/09/2018	1
	02	Syam Ben Youssef	March 31, 1989	42	2	Kasımpaşa Istanbul	2014	06/09/2018	2
	11	Dylan Bronn	06/19/1995	5	0	KAA Gent	2017	06/09/2018	2	1
	05	Oussama Haddai	01/28/1992	8th	0	FCO Dijon	2015	06/09/2018	1
	21st	Nagguez Hamdi	10/28/1992	16	0	al Zamalek SC P	2017	06/01/2018	2
	12	Ali Maâloul	01/01/1990	47	0	al Ahly Cairo M	2014	06/09/2018	2
	04th	Yassine Meriah	07/02/1993	17th	1	CS Sfax	2016	06/09/2018	3
midfield	14th	Mohamed Amine Ben Amor	05/03/1992	26th	3	al-Ahli	2016	06/09/2018	1
	20th	Ghailene Chaalali	02/28/1994	6th	1	Espérance Tunis M	2017	06/01/2018	1		1
	15th	Ahmed Khalil	December 21, 1994	3	0	Club Africain Tunis	2016	03/23/2018	1
	07th	Seifeddine Khaoui	04/27/1995	5	0	ES Troyes AC ↓	2018	06/09/2018	1
	13	Ferjani Sassi	03/18/1992	40	9	al-Nasr	2014	06/09/2018	3	1	2
	17th	Ellyes Skhiri	05/10/1995	5	0	HSC Montpellier	2018	06/09/2018	2
Storm	09	Anice Badri	September 18, 1990	10	3	Espérance Tunis M	2017	06/09/2018	3		1
	08th	Fakhreddine Ben Youssef	06/23/1991	39	5	al-Ettifaq	2012	06/09/2018	3	1
	19th	Saber Khelifa	10/14/1986	25th	5	Club Africain Tunis	2011	06/09/2018	1
	10	Wahbi Khazri	02/08/1991	36	12	Rennes stadium	2013	03/27/2018	3	2
	23	Naïm Sliti	07/27/1992	19th	3	FCO Dijon	2016	06/09/2018	3
	18th	Bassem Srarfi	06/25/1997	5	0	OGC Nice	2018	06/09/2018	1
Trainer		Nabil Maaloul	07/25/1962	63	9		2017
↑ Numbers according to the official squad list ↑ a b Status: June 9, 2018, after the game against Spain, Sources: Kicker-Sonderheft 2018, rsssf.com: Tunisia - Record International Players , soccerway.com: Tunisia ↑ Clubs in italics played in the second division in the 2017/18 season. M = champions in the World Cup year, P = cup winners in the World Cup year, ↓ = the club was relegated in the World Cup year ^ At the game against Panama ^ At the games against England and Belgium ↑ a b As a player

Finals

Group draw

Saransk Moscow (VR + Q) Volgograd

Venues and quarters (Q) of the Tunisian team

For the draw of the qualifying groups on December 1st, Tunisia was assigned to Pot 3. Tunisia met in the group G in Belgium , England and novice Panama . Tunisia already met Belgium in the preliminary round of the 2002 World Cup, where the two separated 1: 1. There was also one win and one defeat in friendly matches. England were opponents in the preliminary round at the 1998 World Cup and Tunisia lost 2-0. There was also a 1-1 draw in a friendly. Like the other two opponents, Tunisia had never played against Panama. Tunisia had not previously played in any of the three preliminary round venues.

Group stage / group G matches

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / Group G

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Belgium	3	3	0	0	009: 200	+7	09
2.	England	3	2	0	1	008: 300	+5	06th
3.	Tunisia	3	1	0	2	005: 800	−3	03
4th	Panama	3	0	0	3	002:110	−9	00

Mon., June 18, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Volgograd
Tunisia	-	England	1: 2 (1: 1)	35 ′ / penalty Sassi
Sat., June 23, 2018, 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. CEST) in Moscow (Spartak Stadium)
Belgium	-	Tunisia	5: 2 (3: 1)	18 ′ Bronn , 90 + 3 ′ Khazri
Thursday, June 28, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Saransk
Panama	-	Tunisia	1: 2 (1: 0)	51 ′ Ben Youssef , 66 ′ Khazri

Individual evidence

1. ↑ fifa.com: Maaloul new national coach for Tunisia
2. ↑ fifa.com: "" Eagle of Carthage "take off"
3. ↑ Turkey played after a red card for Cenk Tosun from the 59th minute onwards ( match report ).
4. ↑ fifa.com: 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - Team Base Camps
5. ↑ bbc.co: "Youssef Msakni: Tunisia forward will miss World Cup because of knee injury"
6. ↑ kicker.de: Tunisia relies on concentrated French power
7. ↑ Tunisia's next goalkeeper is canceled - Ben Cherifia is flown in , transfermarkt.de, accessed on June 27, 2018