FIFA World Cup 2018: Tunisia beat Panama 2-1 for the first time in 40 years

Tunisian captain Wahbi Khazri and Fakhreddine Ben Youssef badure that the fall of the World Cup will not come [19699004] Khazri's sustained shooting in the 66th minute has allowed Tunisia to impose 2-1 against Panama on Thursday night. It's about 15 minutes after the Rennes striker's pbad has produced Ben Youssef's equalizer on a deviation from his center right. (Full Coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup)

"We wanted to win the victory and I wanted to score and I did it," said Ben Youssef. "It's a great day for Tunisia."

Panama is still looking for a first win in the World Cup – or nowhere, from elsewhere. But he took his first World Cup advantage in the 33rd minute with a goal against his side when Jose Luis Rodriguez's left-foot shot deflected off Tunisia's Ybadine Meriah.

The two teams of Group G were already eliminated the match. Tunisia had not won a World Cup match since a 3-1 win over Mexico in 1978. The Carthage Eagles then failed to win one of their next 13 matches of the World Cup. World, a series that has ended somewhat unexpectedly. We understood very well that our best hope was to take third place in this group, "said Tunisia coach Nabil Maaloul.
Tunisia seemed more competitive against England and Belgium than Panama has almost won a draw against England but lost to a late goal by Harry Kane

Tunisia also has more accomplished club professionals on its team, but it lacked several players In addition to the absence of defender Dylan Bronn, Tunisia had to engage goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi, third choice of 33, because his other goalkeepers were injured.

"Thanks to our goalkeeper, we did not concede a lot of goals and we got the three points, "said Maaloul." That's what matters. "

Statistically, Panama was the least performance of this World Cup, but Coach Hernan Gomez challenged a report suggesting that his team was the worst of the tournament.

We are not the worst team, we are a team that learns and grows up, "said Gomez. "You have to respect our team a lot, you can not call us the worst team, it's a lack of respect."

The first two goals of the game were milestones in the World Cup, which dates back to 1930. The goal that gave Panama a 1-0 halftime lead was the 50th goal of all cups in the world .

Meriah had turned his body to block Rodriguez's shot and sent him to the far post after Mathlouthi had already started moving. another way. The goal came against the course of play. Tunisia dominated the match with 64% possession and finished with 15 shots in Panama nine.

But Tunisia was quick to equalize on what was a bit of a World Cup stage, the 2500th goal in the history of the tournament, which dates back to 1930. The Seattle defender Sounders, Roman Torres, helped establish the first goal with a composed and accurate pbad from the top of the surface and towards the center of the field until Rodriguez

. He was removed from the game with an apparent injury to his left leg after being entangled with Khazri as both pursued the ball near the Panama penalty area.

He left the field after the match, and it remains to be seen how this affects his availability when he returns to MLS. The victory provided a measure of justification to Maaloul, who led the team to the World Cup by infusing his lineups with younger players.

He did not directly ask a question about his future coach after the match, but defended his record citing a recent World Cup and African Cup qualifier. Nations, he said the job was important to him.

"We had to face Belgium and England," said Maaloul. "My players played their heart in all three performances."