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You are here: Home / Sports / Wednesday Morning World Cup Open Thread: Tunisia vs France / Australia vs Denmark

Wednesday Morning World Cup Open Thread: Tunisia vs France / Australia vs Denmark

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Tunisia vs France

SportsMole:

Having already confirmed a place in the last 16, France visit the Education City Stadium for Wednesday’s final World Cup 2022 Group D encounter with Tunisia.

Meanwhile, the African nation sit bottom of the standings and must overcome the reigning champions to stand any chance of making it through to the knockout stages.

Still waiting for their first goal of the 2022 edition, Tunisia are on the brink of an early exit from the globe’s biggest footballing tournament after coming up short in a 1-0 loss to Australia on Saturday, which saw the Socceroos leapfrog their fellow Group D rivals in the standings…

The Eagles of Carthage can take some encouragement in the fact that their side have never gone through an entire World Cup campaign without scoring before, and France may just take their foot off the gas slightly with qualification already in the bag…

Now boasting six wins on the trot at the World Cup, France could equal Italy’s second-best record of seven consecutive victories on the grandest stage, although they are still some way off matching the all-time record of 11 set by Brazil between 2002 and 2006.

France and Tunisia will be locking horns for the first time since 2010 this week, with that friendly ending in a 1-1 draw, and the last four clashes between the two nations have seen Les Bleus alternate between a win and a draw – a good omen before this largely inconsequential tie for Deschamps’s men.

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Australia vs Denmark

SportsMole:

Australia and Denmark round off their World Cup group stage campaigns when they meet at the Al Janoub Stadium on Wednesday.

With France already through from Group D, this has essentially become a winner-takes-all encounter.

Australia have the upper hand going into this fixture, following their win over Tunisia in Saturday’s early offering, moving them into second with four points…

In contrast, Denmark were imperious in qualification, winning their opening nine qualifiers with eight clean sheets, but now face the very real prospect of early elimination.

They can take inspiration from the fact that they lost both their opening two games of Euro 2020 and still managed to make the semi-finals thanks to a phenomenal display against Russia in their final group game.

Previous form at the World Cup also gives cause for optimism, because unlike Australia, they have made it out of the group stage in four of their five finals appearances.

They must end a five game winless run at the World Cup to do so though, as the defeat to France last time out ended a run of four successive draws.

Reader Interactions

32Comments

  1. 1.

    Kevin

    France playing the second team most likely with their spot in the knockout stage assured. They could still win big!

    Denmark and Australia might be a better game with everything on the line.

  6. 6.

    phdesmond

    from the Grauniad:

    Tunisia have been the better team by a mile, while France have played some ludicrously low-quality and disjointed stuff.

  9. 9.

    JMG

    I daresay any manager whose team has already qualified would take Deschamps’ approach to the third group stage match. His job is to win the Cup, not provide entertainment at the risk, however slight, of injury to his irreplaceable star.

  12. 12.

    phdesmond

    GOAL! Tunisia 1-0 France (Khazri, 58).

    at this moment Tunisia qualifies for the next stage

    edit:  not any more, because Australia scored in their game.

  13. 13.

    PAM Dirac

    @Alison Rose:

    Sure, there’s some validity to that, but they still ought to at least appear like they’re trying to win the match.

    For the guys who have been on the bench, this is their opportunity to show they belong on the first team. I would be shocked if lack of effort is the problem. More likely unfamiliarity with each other.

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    @Alison Rose: The Carthage Eagles! What a great name.

    I looked up the Iranian team to see if they had flown back across the Gulf to their home country, and what kind of reception they got. No news on that yet.

    I did see the poignant story of Iranian midfielder Saied Ezatolahi sinking to the turf at game’s end and sobbing.  American forward Josh Sargent knelt next to Ezatolahi and hugged him, and then teammates Brendan Aaronson, DeAndre Yedlin and Tim Weah came over to console their opponent.

    Scenes were not so positive in Iran. Some people took their anger at the regime out on the national team, honking horns and setting off fireworks when the American team scored its lone goal and then hung on to win. The BBC says there was retaliation:

          Iran Human Rights reported that security personnel shot and killed Mehran Samak, 27, in the Caspian Sea city of Bandar Amak when he honked his horn Tuesday night to celebrate the Iranian team’s defeat.

    BBC Persian obtained a video showing Mr. Samak’s burial Wednesday morning. The mourners can be heard chanting [at the regime], “You are the filth, you are the immoral, I am a free woman,” a slogan frequently heard during the protests

    BBC News

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    With his rainbow flag and his shirt that says “Save Ukraine” on the front and “Respect for Iranian Women” on the back, this guy Mario Ferri has his heart in all the right places.

  19. 19.

    Kent

    Wow, I just got to work and turned on FUBO streaming on my computer to see Tunisia up 1-0 in the 80th minute.  This would be huge

    I guess looking at the standings, Tunisia still needs Australia to lose if they are going to advance.

  20. 20.

    PAM Dirac

    Comment from earlier on the Guardian commentary:

    France are currently playing like a tribute act to the normal starting XI. Very much the Friday night at a working men’s club version of Mbappe et al. I am not sure you could charge entry

  25. 25.

    PAM Dirac

    Antoine Griezmann at the death to salvage a little French pride. As one of the Guardian commenters said, the French manager will have no selection controversy for the knockout stage.

     

    ETA: well maybe no salvaged pride, but definitely no selection controversy.

  27. 27.

    Sandra Taylor

    Antoine Griezmann at the death to salvage a little French pride. As one of the Guardian commenters said, the French manager will have no selection controversy for the knockout stage.

  31. 31.

    Hoodie

    @phdesmond: Maybe, but France didn’t play a lot of their regulars and didn’t insert others until very late in the match.   Happy for Tunisia to get a win, but glad the Aussies also won because they deserved to go through.   You can understand DeChamps resting his regulars to avoid additional injuries after the losses of Benzema and Pogba but, because of the math of the group stages, giving Tunisia an enhanced opportunity to win effects other teams in the group.  Tunisia could easily have lost by several goals if Mbappe et al. had started and played a full 90. 

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