Tunisia’s recruitment campaign a worrying sign for group rivals
New call-ups are giving outsiders hope of an upset Leicester’s Benalouane vows to make an impact
Two good, two bad. That was the initial assessment of England’s World Cup group in December, when the draw was first made. Belgium and England: good. Tunisia and Panama: not so good.
Based on international pedigree, this was an understandable reaction.
Tunisia had not won a World Cup match since 1978, and Panama had never even reached the finals before. Those two can scrap it out for third place, the thinking went, and the big boys will strut into the knockout rounds.
As the months have passed, though, the threat level from Tunisia has risen. A post-qualification recruitment drive has reshaped the side, supplying new faces and fresh talent, while recent results have provided a worrying indication of their intentions in Russia.
All of a sudden, Nabil Maaloul’s team appear to be treacherous and ambitious opponents. They face Gareth Southgate’s side tomorrow, and there is no doubt that they are targeting England’s spot behind Belgium as their route out of this group.
“We are not here [ just] to take part,” says Yohan Benalouane, their central defender. “We are here to take over.”
This is fighting talk, but there is plenty of justification for Tunisian confidence. In their pre-tournament friendlies in the past few weeks, Tunisia have drawn 2-2 with Portugal, the European champions, and come within six minutes of holding Spain to a goalless draw.
Those results are made doubly impressive because they were achieved during Ramadan, when the players were fasting. In their meeting with Portugal, goalkeeper Mouez Hassen faked injury at sundown to allow the players time to eat and drink on the touchline.
“We play good football,” says Benalouane, who plays with England’s Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire at Leicester
City. “Yeah, it will be difficult for us, but it will be difficult for the other teams, too.”
Most worrying for England, perhaps, is that Tunisia are hard to analyse. Their team have changed dramatically – and controversially – since they qualified for the World Cup, largely because of a concerted effort to sign up players with Tunisian heritage from other countries.
Benalouane, Saif-Eddine Khaoui, Ellyes Skhiri and Hassen, all Frenchborn, were called up to the Tunisian side for the first time in March. Rani Khedira, the brother of German World Cup winner Sami, and Sevilla’s Wissam Ben Yedder were also targeted, unsuccessfully.
This was a spree to rival the most trigger-happy of club sides, and it naturally provoked criticism. Rani Khedira said he did not think it was “fair to take the place of players who have worked their socks off to reach the World Cup”, and pointed out that he spoke only German.
The four who said yes, all of whom came through the French youth system, speak only French, forcing Maaloul to juggle languages in training. In a response to the unrest over this recruitment drive, the Tunisian federation said it has “cast the net wide” to “ensure all the conditions for success”, adding that it wanted to create “harmony between local players from the Tunisian championship and those from the second generation established in Europe”.
On the evidence of the relaxed approach to their meeting with Portugal last month, Tunisia’s senior figures seem to have succeeded in fostering this harmony. The players strolled calmly around their hotel, sharing coffees, talking to fans, posing for selfies and jokingly mobbing journalists in an elevator. “It’s very relaxed,” Skhiri said earlier this year. “We laugh a lot.”
There was particular unease over the inclusion of Benalouane, who had previously turned down the chance to play for Tunisia, but the Leicester defender knows how important the French-born cohort can be to this side. “It’s positive,” Benalouane told The
Sunday Telegraph. “We have experience and we have a lot of good players from Tunisia. In a tournament like this, we can show something important.”
Tunisia, alluringly known as the Eagles of Carthage, are capable of playing the sort of technical, possession-based football that so often causes problems for England.
They know they will need to sweat and grind against England’s youthful creativity. But they also know that they have more than enough quality to cause damage with the ball.
“If we work hard,” Benalouane says, “we can be a surprise.”