Coach fears that Tunisian first-night nerves may help English
TUNISIA coach Nabil Maaloul fears his World Cup rookies could suffer stage fright in Russia.
He has led Tunisia to their first finals since 2006 – the fifth in their history – and is concerned some of his players may freeze when they meet England on Monday evening.
Maaloul (above) has tried to instil confidence into his players, who are all World Cup debutants, and they topped their qualifying group unbeaten ahead of DR Congo.
“This is a World Cup,” he said. “They are going to have a lot of stage fright, a lot of stress.
“I have tried to work essentially on that aspect, that psychological aspect. I have tried to make them understand that in one game anything is possible.
“We can win our games. It’s 90 minutes, maybe 95 minutes. You have to let go. We have to play hard, play our game like we know how.”
Maaloul, 55, is a former midfielder who played for Hannover 96 between 1989 and 1991, and has led his country to the Finals after failing in his first stint in 2013.
He quit after an embarrassing defeat by Cape Verde ended their 2014 qualification hopes and went on to manage Kuwait.
Maaloul is only the second Tunisian boss to reach a World Cup and is proud the Eagles of Carthage will be the highest-ranked African side in the tournament at 21 in FIFA’S standings.
“For Tunisian football, this is very important,” he added. “It’s a first for us to be in front of so many nations that have football in their genes.
“We have it too, but when you are in front of many other footballing nations, that is very important.”