Tunisia held tournament dark horses Denmark to a pulsating 0-0 draw in their opening group game, leaving Group D wide open ahead of France’s clash with Australia later Tuesday.
Jalel Kadri’s men started the game stronger, with the African side pressing the opposition high up the pitch and denying their talented midfield trio any time on the ball.
They nearly got their reward as well, with Issam Jebali poking home for the visitors only to see the offside flag raised before being denied later by an excellent Kasper Schmeichel save.
However, even as Denmark grew into the game, the Eagles of Carthage continued to go toe-to-toe with their European opponents in the second half and rode their luck as Christian Eriksen stung Aymen Dahmen’s palms and Andreas Cornelius produced an astonishing miss to keep the score lines level.
Deep into the five minutes of added time, VAR did everything it could to break Tunisians’ hearts, sending the referee to the monitor after detecting a handball in the penalty area from a corner. However, in dramatic fashion and against all odds, the referee stuck to his original decision, pointing to a goal kick rather than the spot and handing Tunisia a valuable point in the process.
It gives the defending champions France a strong grip on Group D if they beat Australia later, though Saudi Arabia’s earlier upset demonstrated that this will not be a formality.
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Denmark will take on Les Bleus on Saturday, while Tunisia will play Australia earlier that day. The winner of Group D will face the loser of Group C, which includes Argentina, Mexico, Poland, and Saudi Arabia. The Group D runner-up will face the Group C winners.
