Tunisia aiming for winning start in World Cup clash with Sweden
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June 13 : Tunisia won’t be content to sit back in their World Cup Group F opening match against Sweden at the Estadio Monterrey on Sunday, with coach Sabri Lamouchi saying he would be sending his players out to score goals.
The Tunisians developed a reputation as a tough defensive team in qualifying, registering nine wins and one draw and not conceding, but Lamouchi said that, with games against Japan and the Netherlands to come, he would be going for victory.
“Who wouldn’t want to start with a win tomorrow? I think that the Swedish coach and the Swedish players also are keen to start with a victory,” he told a press conference on Saturday.
“The Tunisian fans are here and they would like to see their national team perform very well, and this is what we are trying to do. We will endeavour to help our team win against a very difficult team, a very strong team, and we will get off to a good start in this competition.”
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Lamouchi said his players knew the Swedish squad well, especially the front two of Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak, who will likely start on Sunday.
“I don’t need to present the players to my team, they know them very well, they know the quality of these two unbelievable players but Sweden they have a lot of strength even in the set pieces,” he said.
“They have other good players, (Anthony) Elanga, (Benjamin) Nygren, (Yasin) Ayari in the middle, but these two (Gyokeres and Isak), they are playing in top teams, in a top league, so of course, everybody knows them.”
Tunisia’s defensive reputation suffered a blow in a 5-0 defeat by Belgium in their final World Cup warm-up game, but defender Ali Abdi says they have already learned the lessons of that game.
“We have to look at the positive aspects and show that we’ve come from Africa as the best team in terms of defensive structure, and we are here to have a very good performance together with our coach. We don’t want to focus on the negative experiences,” he said.
Coach Lamouchi brushed off Tunisia’s status as the lowest-ranked team in the group and said that their goal for the tournament is clear.
“We have an objective – we need to qualify (from the group), we have never qualified before,” he said.
“I believe in it, so it is very important for me to make my players believe that it is possible, and I hope that the Tunisians, male and female alike, will be supportive of our team.”
Source: Reuters
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