Tunisia need to regain confidence to survive

MUNICH, June 15: Tunisia, seeking to end the worst run of World Cup results of any team in the tournament, need to regain composure and confidence rapidly in the next three days to avoid an early exit.

Their performance in yesterday's opening 2-2 draw in group H against Saudi Arabia lurched from dominance to desperation in an attacking Arabic derby, defender Radhi Jaidi rescuing them with a stoppage time equaliser.

But though that was enough to give coach Roger Lemerre reasonable cause for satisfaction, it did little to please his players who admitted they had thrown the game away.

Ziad Jaziri, who volleyed in Tunisia's opening goal in a man-of-the-match performance, said: ''It was a really tough game to play in and, at the end of the day, it was perhaps our worst match for two or three years.

''Saudi Arabia were clearly the better team. We lacked aggression and concentration after half-time but I'm still satisfied with this point because everything remains possible.'' Tunisia won on their debut World Cup finals appearance in Argentina in 1978, beating Mexico 3-1 but have now failed to win any of their subsequent nine. This is their fourth appearance in the finals.

Tunisia will need his optimism and another energetic display in Stuttgart on Monday when they meet group leaders Spain, who thrashed Ukraine 4-0 in their opener.

The prospect of that clash will probably haunt Lemerre as the two goals Tunisia conceded in the second half as he celebrates his 65th birthday on Sunday.

Lemerre said part of the reason for his side's failure to turn dominance into anything more than a narrow one-goal lead at the interval was lack of match practice.

''Our team over the last six months did not have enough competitions -- when a lot of players don't participate regularly in matches then that is a handicap,'' he said.

Goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel, the oldest player in the tournament at 40 years and 62 days, summed up the Tunisians' plight.

He said: ''It hasn't sunk in yet that I just played my first World Cup match but you have to say the result doesn't help us.

''We were far too static in defence and I don't understand why we stopped playing straight after our first goal. We need to correct our mistakes and, above all, be more aggressive.''

REUTERS

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