An overwhelmed goalkeeper, a red card and a bag of goals, the Eagles of Carthage took a blow to morale in a completely red Parc des Princes, filled with the Tunisian community.

Coach Jalel Kadri had largely reshuffled his team, with only three players already established against Comoros (1-0 victory) five days earlier, defense chief Montassar Talbi and midfielders Ellyes Skhiri and Aissa Laidouni.

But the Eagles return from their September internship weighed down with doubts.

Their nerves seemed as fragile as their defence, the Tunisians challenged the decisions of referee Ruddy Buquet a lot, and especially his rearguard was shipwrecked against the Seleçao.

Goalkeeper number two, Aymen Dahmen, did not overshadow the holder, Béchir Ben Saïd.

He is at fault on two goals, the first, where he is too advanced and is lobbed by Raphinha (11th), and too far from his amount on the strike of the same Raphinha who makes a re-entrant post (40th) on the ball 4- 1.

In hinge, Dylan Bronn was excluded for a blow to the knee from Neymar, more clumsy than nasty (42nd).

Tunisia also misadjusted their offside trap, a culpable alignment of right-back Mohamed Drager brought Richarlison into play for the 2-1 goal (19th).

Lots of mistakes...

Undermined morale

This goal undermined the morale of the Tunisians.

Their best defender, Montassar Talbi, had just equalized with a fine header in extension and unbalanced, à la Olivier Giroud (16th).

The defense suffered, especially the first half, like the fault of midfielder Aissa Laidouni who cost a penalty, converted by Neymar (29th).

But Tunisia did not miss everything in this game either.

She reserved the best for the second period, with lively sequences of passes which sometimes destabilized the Brazilians, even in numerical superiority.

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Among the players to follow, Youssef Msakni still has a nice right foot, and the "Danish" (he was born in Copenhagen) Anis Ben Slimane admired his fine technique, as on the free kick from Talbi's goal.

The star of the team, Wahbi Khazri, entered only in the last half hour, in place of Ghaylen Chaaleli (62nd), but did not manage to move the "Seleçao", like this control a little long in the area (71st).

Despite a better second half, with a tight defense, Tunisia cracked one last time in front of Pedro (74th).

End of the lesson.

© 2022 AFP