France were already through to the round of 16, but coach Didier Deschamps won’t be happy with the manner of their 1-0 defeat to Tunisia.
France’s winning run at the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar came to an end after they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Tunisia at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan o Wednesday.
Wahbi Khazri scored the only goal of the game just before the hour-mark, yet it was not enough for the Tunisian side to go through to the knockout stages because Australia beat Denmark.
If Denmark managed to win against Australia, Tunisia would go through and join Senegal in the last sixteen, but this was not to be.
Didier Deschamps heavily rotated his side in the Tunisia clash in a bid to keep his key players for the last sixteen. Kylan Mbappe, Adrien Rabiot, Dembele and Griezmann were all rested and were eventually brought on the field to try and get the equaliser against the stubborn defence of Tunisia.
France thought they had found the equalizer through an Antonio Griezmann goal in the eighth minute of referee stoppage time, but the goal was disallowed after the referee went to view the VAR screen. Griezmann was found to be offside when the ball was played.
The Tunisian side held on to get the victory and were relying on Denmark to beat Australia in order for them to progress through to the next round. That was not the case as Australia won 1-0.
Despite the defeat, defending champions France still won its World Cup group. ‘Les Bleus’ have not won all three of their World Cup group matches since claiming its first title in 1998.
Source: : ESPN, Euro News, Reuters, 1 News, Daily Mail, image from Twitter: @Lindiwe57235946