Tunisia has done the job against France (1-0). But Tunisia will not know for all that its first qualification in the last 16 of a World Cup. The fault of Australia who won against Denmark (1-0) and finished second in the group with 6 points. Solid in the whole competition, the Eagles of Carthage can however regret their lack of efficiency during the first two games in group C.
Tunisia will not see the first round of 16 of its history in the World Cup, and can well feed regrets. The Carthage Eagles won 1-0 against France, the reigning world champions, on Wednesday 30 November, but they can now regret their defeat against Australia (1-0, day 2), which probably cost them their place in the second round.
Facing a French team already qualified for the eighth round and largely reshuffled (9 changes in the starting eleven), Tunisia has put heart, desire and intensity. The Eagles of Carthage went forward from the beginning and thought they had their first goal in this competition in the 8th minute. But Nader Ghandri's goal from close range after Wahbi Khazri's free kick on the left was logically disallowed for offside.
But it was only a temporary setback for Kaled Kadri's men. They came back from the break with the same determination and finally managed to find the breakthrough on the hour mark. Found in the axis, Wahbi Khazri, titular for the first time in this World Cup, takes advantage of the lack of aggressiveness of the Blues to go up the ball and present himself in the axis in front of the French surface. He deposits the ball on the right of Steve Mandanda's goal. The 31-year-old striker, who played with the youth teams of France, offers Tunisia its first goal in the competition. Quite a symbol.
Australia passes in front of Tunisia
And at this moment, it is well the Tunisians (4 points) who were qualified for the second round, since Denmark and Australia held in check (0-0) in the other match of the group. But the Socceroos will finally surprise Christian Eriksen's teammates thanks to a goal by Mathew Leckie (60th). The Socceroos will finally surprise Christian Eriksen thanks to a goal of Mathew Leckie (60th) and will be back in front of the Tunisians with 6 points.
Meanwhile, Didier Deschamps decided to launch his offensive assets Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezman, Ousmane Dembélé to at least get the point. Les Bleus are then more dangerous as the shots of Ousmane Dembélé (84th), Adrien Rabiot (88th) or the goal of Antoine Griezman (90+8) refused for an offside position. On the other hand, Tunisia resists and obtains a nice victory against the world champions. A victory with the taste of a defeat since it will not allow them to pass to the second round.