Tunisia (The Eagles of Carthage) were somewhat of a mainstay in the World Cup for a while, qualifying for '98, '02 and '06. They have made it to the World Cup 4 times and have never left empty handed, always gaining at least 1 point in the group.
The majority of Tunisia's midfield play in the French League; led by Wahbi Khazri they are fairly competent players with the ability to pass the ball well and create chances, even against tough defences. They proved this in their warmup games, only losing 1-0 to Spain and drawing 2-2 with Portugal.
Although I am sure many people would not be able to point to Tunisia on a map, they are not a country to overlook on the pitch.
England (The Three Lions). In all honesty, probably one of their worst squads in recent times, the English national team always suffer from a domestic league that is "too good". Even Spain and Germany have players that play abroad to pick up different experiences and bring their knowledge back the to squad. The entire English team play only in the Premier League with only 5 of their 23 players coming from outside the "big 6".
Since the last World Cup, England have discovered the talents of Vardy and Harry Kane to boost their go forward, although this didn't help them at the Euros where they were knocked out by Iceland. Last World Cup they ended bottom of their group only picking up 1 point. Despite their squad being full of quality players every year, they always fail to deliver on the international stage.
With all the keepers on their squad being untested and unproven at international level, it will be interesting to see how England fair.
Tunsia v England. Seems like an easy choice, but I don't think it will be as straight forward as people think. England have a history of failing in major competitions and have not won their first game of a major tournament since the 2006 World Cup. 1-1.
No comments:
Post a Comment