Tunisia 1-1 France

Posted Monday, May 31, 2010 by Goal.com

Raymond Domenech’s side were unable to overcome a motivated and well organized Tunisian team.

France came into the match looking for their second win in a row before the World Cup while Tunisia wanted to end their own negative run of six matches without a victory. Raymond Domenech made only one change from his lineup for the Costa Rica match with Hugo Lloris taking Steve Mandanda’s place between the goalposts.

Tunisia kicked off proceedings and instantly put Lloris under pressure with their first attack of the game. But it was France who dominated possession in the early going, with Malouda eventually getting Les Bleus first shot off – although it was off target and didn’t trouble Aymen Mathlouthi.

Quickly thereafter Tunisia’s playmaker Oussama Darragi started off an attack that culminated in Fahid Ben Khalfallah crossing to a wide open Issam Jemaa, who opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a simple tap-in. Tunisia could’ve doubled their lead on a open breakaway two minutes later but Khalfallah pushed his pass too far past Jemaa this time after Darragi had put him clear through on goal.

France came close to their equaliser in the 14th through a free kick attempt that was bobbled by Mathlouthi, but the ball was eventually cleared by one of his central defenders. Ribery was hacked on the edge of the Tunisian penalty area on 19 minutes but Gourcuff entirely missed the frame with his ensuing strike.

For the rest of the first period Domenech’s men took over the midfield as the Carthage Eagles struggled to find each other and get the ball out of their half. Sidney Govou was found by Bacary Sagna in the 32nd minute but his header floated wide. Les Bleus continued to exert a sterile domination as Malouda had a powerful volley saved by the Tunisian goalkeeper. The chance proved to be the last serious one, with the Carthage Eagles managing to take their lead into the locker room.

The second half began with Domenech replacing Eric Abidal with Marc Planus and Frank Ribery with Thierry Henry while Sami Trabelsi switched goalkeepers by introducing Lens’ Hamdi Kasraoui in place of Mathlouthi. The home side looked more organized and composed than they had been for much of the first half and Darragi fired a shot from distance that went wide.

In the 57th minute a poor clearance from the Tunisian defence led to a powerful Gourcuff shot from distance that narrowly missed. The influential Darragi was then taken off in favour of the returning Selim Benachour. In the 61st minute Gallas headed in the equaliser after being found by Bordeaux’s playmaker.

Plenty of substitutions followed with Gallas coming off for Scuillaci, Anelka for Gignac, Gourcuff for Diaby, and Clichy for Evra. Mouihbi replaced Youssef Msekni for Tunisia. Malouda tried his luck from long range in the 74th but Kasraoui was equal to the effort.

The moment all Tunisians were waiting for finally came in the 76th minute when Yassine Chikhaoui was subbed into the game for the goalscorer Jemaa. The FC Zurich midfield maestro hadn’t played for the national team since Ghana 2008 due to injury. Unfortunately, the closing minutes the game became choppy and ended with both teams on equal footing, leaving Domenech with more questions to answer in the lead-up to the World Cup.