Tunisia vs France Highlights: Tunisia stun France but fail to progress | Football News

NEW DELHI: The FIFA World Cup 2022 witnessed another upset after VAR disallowed Antoine Griezmann’s last-minute strike as Tunisia stunned World Cup holders France 1-0 at the Education City Stadium on Wednesday.
But the shocking victory was not enough for Tunisia to join the defending champions in the last 16 of the tournament in Qatar as Australia got the better of Denmark 1-0 in the other Group D match.
French-born Wahbi Khazri scored the only goal of the game when he steered home a 58th-minute winner amid a cluster of defenders for only a third victory at six World Cup tournaments for Tunisia but they were still eliminated.

France, who made nine changes for this match from the team that beat Denmark and had already booked their place in the knockout stages, finished top of Group D on goal difference from runners-up Australia.
Tunisia’s win also ended France’s six-match winning streak at the World Cup.
Tunisia also threatened early on, with Nader Ghandri flicking the ball into the net off a free kick but the play was ruled offside.
Hostility from the stands was palpable from the start, with a portion of Tunisian supporters at Education City whistling at the French national anthem as it was played before kickoff. The same had happened at an emotionally-charged 2008 friendly in Paris between France and its former colony.
In a tactic designed to rest his stars for the Round of 16, French manager Didier Deschamps gave players who generally see very little of the pitch a taste of the action. But France’s bench showed little cohesion and their back line was consistently pushed back and split wide open by a Tunisian side desperate to score.
The Tunisian captain’s goal mobilised the French into action, with Deschamps bringing in stars like Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann to jump start an attack that had so far been tepid.
Mbappe and Griezmann energised the French, who were aided by Tunisia sitting back in the hope of preserving their win. On the Tunisian bench, substitutes and staff had their eyes glued on the other decisive group stage game in the dying minutes of their own match.
(With Agency Inputs)