Closer Look at Tunisia's National Team Participating in the World Cup

The Tunisian national team is preparing to participate in the World Cup finals, which will start next month, as the draw placed the Tunisian team in Group D, along with world champion France, Denmark, and Australia.

The Carthage Eagles team is looking forward to realizing the dream that has haunted many generations since its first participation in the tournament in Argentina in 1978, by reaching the second round for the first time in the history of Tunisian football.

The Tunisian national football team is one of the most Arab teams participating in the World Cup, as it is equal with the Moroccan and Saudi teams with 6 participation, before participating in the Qatar 2022 World Cup, but during its previous participation it was unable to pass the first round, and they have an opportunity to achieve this goal despite the difficulty of the task with the presence of The French national team, the world champion, Denmark, as well as the stubborn Australian team.

During its previous five participations, Tunisia played 15 matches in the World Cup, winning 2, drawing 4 and losing 9 matches, a very weak outcome that the Carthage Eagles hope to break this time and write history in the first tournament to be held in the Arab region and the Middle East in the World Cup Qatar 2022.

The beginning of the Tunisian team’s appearance in the World Cup goes back to the 1978 edition of Argentina, where Tunisia played in Group B, and achieved in its first match a historic victory over Mexico with a score of 3-1, which is the first victory for an Arab and African team in the history of the World Cup tournaments. It also faced Poland and lost 1 -0, before it tied with Germany without goals, Tunisia was eliminated from the competition after a participation that the observers considered very honorable for African football, which benefited from the 1982 edition of an additional seat in the finals.

If we take a look at the Tunisia squad, we find that coach Jalal Al-Qadri counts on a group of professional players in Europe and some Arab leagues, as well as a few Tunisian league players.

Tunisia captain Youssef Msakni, the striker of the Qatari club Al Arabi, is considered one of the most prominent players and most representative of the team, as he participated in 72 international matches, along with Wahbi Khazri, the  star of the French club Montpellier, and Montaser Talbi of French club Lorient, Hannibal Al-Majbri, loaned from Manchester United to Birmingham, and Ferjani Sassi of Al Duhail of Qatar, Ali Maaloul of Al Ahly of Egypt, Naim Al Sulaiti of Al Ittifaq of Saudi Arabia, Ayman Dahmane of Sfaxien of Tunisia, and Ghaylan Chaalali of Espérance Sportive de Tunis of Tunisia, and last but not least the star of the German club Cologne, Elias Sakhiri.

A midfielder who has a great ability to break passes and win bilateral conflicts, in addition to the ability to anticipate and stop shots in the bud, which will add a lot to the Tunisian team in terms of defense.