Group F's General Discussion Thread

3-0
i have no idea why Tunisia decided to get rid of their coach after the first match

 

How did the defender not clear the 4rth goal? It was a simple header he was already in position.

 

And to think after all this Tunisia still have to play Netherlands next.

 

Just a reminder that the only reason Tunisia qualified was their CAF qualifying draw. They managed to pull the worst or second worst ranked team from literally every single pot in the qualification campaigns Pot 2 through Pot 6, other than a mid level Pot 6 side called São Tomé and Principe. The highest ranked team in their group, Equatorial Guinea, according to FIFA Rankings, finished second from last, and was not ranked in FIFA's or ELO's top 100, nor in CAF's top 20.

So if or when you may have come across references to Tunisia's sterling defensive record, unlike Ecuador's, Tunisia's was a complete fraud, perpetrated against some of the worst squads you could draw for a qualification group out of Pot's 2, 3, 4 and 5 (Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, and Liberia).

There are a lot of strong CAF teams not here, like Cameroon, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, that would have done CAF far more proud than getting the leaf blower treatment Sweden and Japan have given this trash side.

I am completely baffled at their totally outlier performance at WC '22, because other than that, they've largely completely sucked at every single WC they qualified for.

 

Almost makes one a bit suspicious doesn't it? It looked harder to miss clearing than to clear.

 

I think he was trying too hard to make it go out for a corner and this distracted him, when all he had to do is put it in front of him. Being down 3-0 also does not do any favours for thinking clearly.

 

Tunisia is cursed in the world cup. Tunisia and Iran are part of a handful of teams who never made it out of the group stages despite doing well in their confederations/considering their overall level, when most of equal or even weaker teams/teams who played less world cups did at least once.

 

Tbh they didn't do that well in 2022. Finished behind Australia and didnt advance past the group stages. Yes, they beat holders France in their final game but the game was practically moot for France as they'd already advanced and topped the group unless Australia overturned and insane goal difference v Denmark whom they were expected to lose to anyway. Another factor is Arab teams were virtually at home in every game last world cup so a weakened/less motivated France + home crowd probably explains that result. Tunisia also reached the Arab Cup final the year before and Esperance had been preforming better in the champions league at that time too

 

I've never liked Tunisia, they are the most pragmatic type of team that relies on defense first, and set pieces etc. Basically they are your typical weak 2nd tier or even 3rd tier UEFA side in CAF. Their organization usually sees them past a lot of the weaker to average CAF teams that offer more dynamism in attack but lack tactical organization.

I think they did well in 2022, especially for their standards.

Yes they always seem to get cake groups for the WC. What we need is for them to be ranked below 9 or 10 in CAF for them not to be seeded, so they can face a serious team to qualify. With FIFA rankings so slow to react, who knows if that will ever happen.

To be fair to Tunisia, I dont know what's going on with them, I mean really they're not THIS bad. I always expected them to be bottom of this group. It's a tough draw. But getting trashed like this ? I didnt see it. I dont know what's wrong with them, but its probably psychological, again they arent this bad. They ve never really been smashed luke this in any of their non inspiring WC appearances.

 

I would first ask why did they get rid of their coach after the AFCON.

 

Their league is going down in term of quality in the recent years. Even when Esperance Tunis was doing well in the CAF CL it was just the tree hiding the forest. So think their generation of players is less talented to begin with.

Also their FA in term of management isn't doing well, it's already their 7th coach since last world cup and they are probably not keeping Renard so it will be an average of 2 coaches per year in the past 4 years.

Last point will make some people unhappy but I heard once Del Pierro say that one of the reason Italy is doing bad is because of VAR that wouldn't let some of the things they were used to do for years be ignored (simulations, harsh fouls). He litteraly said if they play like they used to they would have a lot of red cards. And I think Tunisia ressemble them in term of football malice.

 

The Group C/Group F pairings are going to be delicious in the Rd32: Brazil and Morocco vs Japan & Netherlands. Or the ither way around.

All those teams are Rd16 worthy, probably QF worthy as well.

 

And yet we will have some very weak matchups in the round of 32. The bracket looks to be very uneven.

 

2 - 0, I feel sorry for Tunisia. It's so embarassing.

 

I feel like the ref is letting play too much in the other game. Could have given some fouls to Japan