Can Tunisia hurt the Elftal?

The game between Austria and Tunisia was not any kind of offensive firework, but at least it was a game on equal terms with lots of information about the Tunisian team — which qualified for a World Cup for the first time this millennium — and their game plan.

On Monday, the 1st of June, Austria played in the Ernst-Happel-Stadion against a strongly performing Tunisia, which fought until the last second. Although Konrad Laimer (29, FC Bayern München), the right-back of the Austrian team and one of its most important players and leaders, received a red card as early as the 37th minute for a handball that denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, Austria did not give up and scored a goal in the 62nd minute through a shot from the Borussia player Marcel Sabitzer (32). After a cross-field pass behind the defensive line from Stefan Posch (29, FSV Mainz 05), Marcel Sabitzer struck a shot from about 11 metres out. He fired into the lower right corner, past the Tunisian goalkeeper. Austria deserved this goal, as they had been going through a strong phase up to that point, but overall the game was quite equal. Austria only had more ball possession with about 59%, but from that came 2 big chances — the same number as from Tunisia’s 41%. Tunisia had 14 shots, while Austria had just 9, but this evened out with 4 of the 9 Austrian shots hitting the target and only 2 on the Tunisian side. The woodwork suffered, being hit 3 times by the Austrian team and 2 times by the Eagles of Carthage. Both teams generated 1.1 expected goals and had about 23 touches in the opponent’s box.

Tunisia played with a 4–3–2–1, which developed into a 4–3–3 in possession. The whole Tunisian team played very well and were able to keep up with a team that regularly qualifies for the World Cup and has players of world-class level, such as David Alaba. Above all, Tunisia made set pieces their weapon and created many dangerous situations for the Austrian defense through free kicks and corners. Two players from the Tunisian team stood out: Central defender Omar Rekik, who completed his passes with a success rate of 94%, touched the ball 64 times and won 3 of 4 ground duels. In attack, Hannibal Mejbri, the central attacking midfielder from Burnley, stood out. He created many dangerous situations, showed his strong ability to finish, carried the ball over long distances and was fouled 7 times — which proves his importance in the game.

In conclusion, Tunisia played a very good game, had a fantastically organised and hardworking defense, used set pieces as their weapon and lost unluckily, due to a successful period of sustained pressure from Austria. The Elftal must be extremely careful at free kicks and corners, watch out for the offensive key player Hannibal Mejbri and find a way through the strong defense of Tunisia.

Statistics via SofaScore