Tunisia Faces Brazil in Friendly Match
The national team delegation flew out yesterday to Lille, where they will face Brazil in a friendly match tonight. The delegation took a regular flight to Brussels before heading to Lille by road. The national team held their only training session on site last night at 8:30 PM, on the pitch of the Pierre-Mauroy stadium.
Tonight, Tunisia will face Brazil for the third time in their history, always in a friendly match. The first encounter took place at the El Menzah stadium in June 1973, and Brazil won comfortably with a score of 4-1. The second match, which was more recent, was held at the Parc des Princes in September 2022 and also ended in a Brazilian victory with a score of 5-1.
In the latest FIFA rankings, Brazil is in 7th place, while Tunisia is ranked 43rd. Both teams are coming off a win in a friendly match, with Brazil beating Senegal 2-0 and Tunisia beating Jordan 3-2. For this match, coach Sami Trabelsi has chosen to leave out 8 players: Mohamed Amine Ben Hmida, Ali Maâloul, Hamza Jelassi, Chiheb Jebali, Oussama Haddadi, Mahmoud Ghorbel, Issam Jebali, and Mohamed Ben Ali.
While it's understandable that the coach chose to rest the players from Espérance, who will host Stade Malien on Saturday for the first day of the Champions League group stage, it would have been nice to give Ali Maâloul, who is nearing the end of his career, the opportunity to face Brazil.
A Chance to Prove Themselves
After the unfortunate episode of the visas, which has tarnished the reputation of the national team coach, we would like to see a respectable performance against the Brazilian giant, even if the recent matches against Mauritania and Jordan were not convincing.
That being said, players like Montassar Talbi, Dylan Bronn, and Ali Abdi, led by Aymen Dahmen, need to avoid the mistakes they made against the Mauritanian and Jordanian attackers and take care of their physical condition to avoid being outrun by Estevão and Vinicius. We are curious to see what Hannibal Mejbri, Elyas Saad, Ismaël Gharbi, and the other Tunisian players can offer against the Brazilian wall.
The Match Ahead
Certainly, we will be playing tonight against one of the most prestigious football nations. Nevertheless, we must play for an honorable result. The Tunisian team has the opportunity to prove themselves against a tough opponent, and we hope to see a good performance from them. With the right mindset and strategy, they can achieve a respectable result and make their country proud.
