It has been a difficult couple of months for Tunisia, as continual disappointments have led to major concern. The joy of qualifying for their first World Cup in 12 years was replaced by the notion that the experience may turn into a painful one.
First came the news that star player Youssef Msakni would be out of the tournament in Russia after he sustained a cruciate ligament injury, whilst playing for his club Al-Duhail. “Msakni's injury has sparked somewhat of an outrage on Tunisian social media, with some calling the decision to put him on the pitch ‘foolish’, ‘irresponsible’ and ‘uncalled for’ especially with so much at stake for the Tunisians, whose hopes for a good World Cup run seemed to be shattered,” said Tunisian journalist Souhail Khmira to Sky Sports.
The comments of head coach Nabil Maaloul just a couple of weeks earlier illustrate the importance of the attacker to the national side. “Tunisia without Msakni? It is as if Argentina was playing without Lionel Messi or Portugal without Cristiano Ronaldo,” admitted Maaloul after he left Msakni out of the friendlies with Iran and Costa Rica in March.
That major blow was added to by the injury to striker Yassine Khenissi. The forward hasn’t exactly been prolific, but it’s another option less for the Carthage Eagles.
Maaloul’s decision to call-up a number of French-born players that hadn’t previously been capped by Tunisia in the last few months, hasn’t been universally popular either. Some believe that the squad should only contain those that helped them reach the tournament for unity, with Leicester City’s Yohan Benalouane amongst the late arrivals.
The centre-back had previously turned down the opportunity to play for Tunisia on two other occasions. Then, there’s the violence from supporters in domestic matches, with several teams forced to play behind closed doors as the season finished.
However, the last few weeks have certainly seen the optimism around the country return. Their performances in recent friendlies have shown that they can compete without Msakni and they can take that confidence into the competition.
They drew 2-2 with both Portugal and Turkey, which are teams that are regarded at a higher level. It was a demonstration of character when they came from two goals down against the European Champions, whilst it took a 90th minute goal from Caglar Soyuncu to earn Turkey the draw.
Tunisia’s 1-0 defeat to Spain at the weekend was the first time they have lost in 15 months. They defended well throughout the encounter and had their own share of goalscoring opportunities.
It wasn’t until the 84th minute that Spain found the decisive goal through substitute Iago Aspas, whilst the chance was created by an uncharacteristic long-ball into Diego Costa. They won’t face many better sides than La Roja in the next month.
Wahbi Khazri is expected to be fit for the opening game with England, which would be another major boost given his individual pedigree. Tunisia have set themselves an ambitious target of the quarter-finals, as the pessimism of recent months has begun to erode away.