Tunisia at the 2022 FIFA World Cup

This article relates the participation of Tunisia during the 2022 FIFA World Cup organized in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022. This is the country's sixth participation in the competition after 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018. Tunisia meets France, Denmark and Australia in Group D.

For the sixth time, Tunisia failed to qualify for the second round of the World Cup, as Tunisia finished the tournament ranked 21st after a 0–0 draw with Denmark, a 0–1 defeat against Australia and a 1–0 victory over France.

Summary
Tunisia, which only has to intervene in the second round, meets Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia. With four wins, a draw and a defeat, the third round is reached, but this is not effective until the day of the last match. The third round is played over two legs and Tunisia take on Mali, the only third-round contender who has never qualified for a World Cup. In the first leg, they took the lead over Mali in the 36th minute thanks to an own goal from Moussa Sissako, who received a red card four minutes later. The Tunisians finished 1–0, so a goalless draw in the second leg was enough for them to qualify.

A total of 29 players are used; twenty of them are also in the squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, during which Tunisia are eliminated in the quarter-finals. Only Aïssa Laïdouni and Ali Maâloul have played all eight matches. Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane plays seven games, but is not used in the first game. Farouk Ben Mustapha is the goalkeeper in all second round matches, but Bechir Ben Saïd, who is making his Africa Cup debut, plays in the third round. Sebastian Tounekti (one game) makes his first international appearance in qualifying. The top scorer is captain Wahbi Khazri with three goals, all scored in the second round. He received a second yellow card in the last match of the second round and was replaced by Youssef Msakni in the third round. In total, eight players have scored at least one goal, plus an own goal by a Malian player, which allows Tunisia to qualify for the World Cup.

Second Round
The draw for the ten groups will be held on 21 January 2020 in Cairo. The teams are divided into four pots according to their FIFA ranking. The second round was supposed to start in March 2020, but is postponed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and does not start until September 2021.

On 3 September 2021, the national team begins its matches in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Tunisia wins the first three matches without conceding a goal, against Equatorial Guinea in Radès 3–0, against Zambia in Ndola 2–0 and against Mauritania 3–0, followed by a draw against the latter in Nouakchott 0–0 and a defeat against Equatorial Guinea in Malabo 0–1, which postpones the qualification for the next round on the last day. Coach Mondher Kebaier faces heavy criticism from fans. This time the team's opponent is Equatorial Guinea. If the two countries are level on points before the last match, Equatorial Guinea draw 1–1 against Mauritania while Tunisia secures first place in its group with a victory 3–1 over Zambia, qualification for the third round being achieved on 16 November, Tunisia concluding the pool matches with four wins, one draw and one loss. During the three matches which take place at the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, all are played behind closed doors due to the health protocol of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the match of the last day against Zambia, which the public had to attend before the refusal of the Confederation of African Football.

Third Round
The matches are knockout round robin matches. The five winners of the confrontations are qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The draw for the third round, initially scheduled for 18 December takes place on 22 January 2022 in Douala, during the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Mondher Kebaier is sacked following the elimination of Tunisia in the quarter of final at the African Cup of Nations and replaced by Jalel Kadri. In the first leg at the Stade du 26 Mars in Bamako, Tunisia won 1–0 thanks to an own goal by Moussa Sissako on pressure from Msakni. As for the return match at the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, in front of 50,000 spectators, it ended in a draw 0–0, so that the team qualified for the World Cup for the sixth time in its history.

Draw
The draw for the final phase of the 2022 World Cup takes place on 1 April 2022 at the Doha Exhibition Centre. Tunisia are assigned to Pot 3 and could be drawn against defending champions Brazil, France, Germany or hosts Qatar. Tunisia meet France, Denmark and Australia in Group D.

The Tunisians haven't scored against any of these teams in their previous World Cup appearances. There have been four friendlies against France, two draws and two losses, and the Tunisians have faced the France B team twice at the Mediterranean Games, winning and losing once. They lost to Denmark at the 1960 Summer Olympics and in preparation for the 2002 World Cup; they also lost to Australia in a friendly match and won the 2005 Confederations Cup.

Preparation matches
reparations start early, as the team plays two matches for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, the first against Equatorial Guinea in Radès 4–0 victory and the second against Botswana in Francistown draw 0–0. Subsequently, the team is set to play the 2022 Kirin Cup Soccer in Japan from 10 to 14 June 2022, with the participation of three other teams: Japan, Chile and Ghana. In the semi-finals, Tunisia beat Chile 2–0 and then Japan 3–0 and thus won the title for the first time.

Ferjani Sassi was named the tournament's best player, while his compatriot Issam Jebali finished top scorer with two goals. After that, the team played two friendlies: the first against Comoros, which ended in victory 1–0, and the second which ended in a heavy loss against Brazil 5–1. The Carthage Eagles end their preparations with a victory against Iran with a score of 2–0 a few days before the world cup, the match not being broadcast and taking place behind closed doors at the request of the Iranian federation.

Squad
Tunisia announced their final squad on 14 November 2022.

Kit
Italian company Kappa unveils the national team uniform on 29 September 2022. The front decorations of the shirt form the shield of Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca.

Group D
In the first match in Group D, Mohamed Dräger threatens the opponent's goal, then Issam Jebali dominates Kasper Schmeichel, but the situation is prevented by an offside. In the 43rd minute, Jebali comes face to face with Schmeichel after hitting the goal and tries to beat the goalkeeper with a through shot, but he uses his thumbs and fends off the finish. Christian Eriksen then makes an attempt beyond the goal line, but Aymen Dahmen is illustrated with a save. From the corner that follows, Andreas Cornelius wastes an opportunity by finding himself alone at the far post, but his header only seals the structure of the goals. Due to the subsequent dominance over the ball, despite their best efforts, the Danes could not find a solution against the Tunisia defence, and the match ended in a goalless draw. Thanks to his performance in this match, Aïssa Laïdouni receives the man of the match award. In the second match, the team are led to a 1–0 loss against Australia, with the technical framework and the players receiving criticism due to the weakness of the midfield and the attack, which reduces the chances of Tunisia to qualify for the round of 16. In the final game against world champions France, Wahbi Khazri put Tunisia ahead in the 58th minute with a low shot to the bottom right corner. At this stage, Tunisia is in a position to qualify in the group. However, two minutes later, Australia took the lead against Denmark in the other match, which sent Tunisia out of the knockout stage. Captain Khazri wins the Man of the Match award. This is Tunisia's first victory against a European team in the World Cup, and the team have collected the most points (four points) in the group stage since their first appearance in 1978 FIFA World Cup (three points). In this context, Wahbi Khazri is retiring from international retirement, after 74 games in which he scored 25 goals.

Standings
In the round of 16:
 * The winners of Group D, France, advanced to play the runners-up of Group C, Poland.
 * The runners-up of Group D, Australia, advanced to play the winners of Group C, Argentina.

Denmark vs Tunisia
The two teams had faced each other twice, most recently in 2002, a 2–1 win for Denmark in a friendly game. Denmark were not able to capitalize in their opening game; although Tunisia failed to score a single goal themselves, they still managed to secure their match without problems, with Aïssa Laïdouni earning the Man of the Match.



Tunisia vs Australia
The two teams had faced each other twice, most recently in Tunisia's 2–0 win at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Australia beat Tunisia 1–0 as a result of a Mitchell Duke header in the 23rd minute to secure their first win in a World Cup match since they defeated Serbia 2–1 in 2010. This was also Australia's first clean sheet since they drew 0–0 with Chile in 1974.



Tunisia vs France
The two teams had faced each other four times, most recently in 2010 friendly, a 1–1 draw.

Wahbi Khazri put Tunisia into the lead in the 58th minute with a low shot to the bottom right corner. At that stage, Tunisia was in a position to qualify from the group. However, two minutes later Australia went in front against Denmark in the other match taking place at the same time, which put Tunisia outside of the qualifying positions. In added time, Antoine Griezmann scored to seemingly make it 1–1 with a volley but the goal was ruled out by VAR for offside. Australia went on to beat Denmark, which meant that Tunisia finished third in the group and failed to get into the knockout stage for the sixth consecutive World Cup.



Threatening to be excluded
At the end of October 2022, an internal dispute concerning the Minister of Youth and Sports, Kamel Deguiche, and the president of the federation, Wadie Jary, threatens Tunisia's participation in the World Cup. Indeed, the two men are known to hate each other and the first wishes to dissolve the federation to separate from the second. FIFA systematically penalizes cases of interference in the world of football, it therefore warns the Tunisian federation: by means of a letter, it warns that it reserves the right to exclude Tunisia from the competition in case of taking power over the federation by Deguiche.

Allegations of interference in the squad
Dozens of news websites in Tunisia reported that coach Jalel Kadri was subjected to pressure during the formation of the Tunisian team's squad for the 2022 World Cup, according to the player Saad Bguir, who was excluded from the final list and who was on the initial list. He also announced his international retirement through a phone call on the TV program Stade Plus on Carthage Plus, until the president of the Tunisian Football Federation, Wadie Jary, left his position. It started when Bilel Ifa was excluded from the list a day before the official announcement, and was later brought back after fans outraged on social media. On 14 November 2022, hundreds of fans greeted the team bus in Doha upon their arrival, but the president of the Federation was insulted in the worst terms.

Also, the selection of four goalkeepers was under pressure from the Tunisian Football Federation to meet the wishes of certain teams on the financial level, FIFA, since the 2010 FIFA World Cup, paying a subsidy to each. team, of which at least one player has been called up in each edition of the competition. On 28 November 2022, former national team player Issam Jemâa said on Radio IFM, that TFF officials had sacrificed one of the players to call four goalkeepers into the final list, as the choice was on Bilel Ifa, who returned to the team after the anger of the fans, Taha Yassine Khenissi, who was medically examined for two hours, so they could find him injured or Seifeddine Jaziri, who was called up due to financial transactions between him and the brother of the president of the TFF, Wajih Jary. In the final, Saad Bguir was abandoned.