The Tunisia national team will end their 2018 World Cup campaign today when they play Panama at the Mordovia Arena in the last round of the tournament’s group stage.
Tunisia and Panama have already exited the World Cup after failing to gain any points from their previous games in Group G, while England and Belgium qualified for the competition’s Round of 16.
The Carthage Eagles will seek to achieve their first win in the World Cup since 1978 at the expense of Panama, as the North Africans have been winless in their last 14 matches of the football showpiece.
Tunisia’s only ever World Cup victory came in their only previous match against a South American nation and that was against Mexico where they won 3-1 in the tournament that was held in Argentina.
The Carthage Eagles fans have long waited for positive results in their team’s clashes having experienced bitterness when their team lost their previous games against Belgium and England to exit the World Cup earlier than expected.
Tunisia will be without Dylan Bronn and Siam Ben Youssef against Panama after both players suffered knee injuries in their loss to Belgium on Saturday.
Second choice goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustapha is also likely to miss the match as he is reported to have injured his knee in training leaving Aymen Mathlouthi as the only available keeper.
With nothing to play for, Coach Nabil Maaloul could give some minutes to the squad members who haven’t made it onto the pitch yet.
On the other hand, Panama, who are new comers in the competition, will miss the services of Michael Amir Murillo and Armando Cooper who are both suspended after they each picked up yellow cards in their first two matches.
Both teams will hopefully take a positive, attacking approach to the game and at least look to exit Russia 2018 on a high.
In terms of goals, Panama have conceded nine goals in Russia and Tunisia seven. The South American side’s 6-1 defeat by England and Tunisia’s 5-2 to loss to Belgium are the highest-scoring games of the tournament so far.
Tunisia and Panama have never played against each other with today’s game to be the first.
The Carthage Eagles are 21st in the world rankings, while Panama are down in 55th position.
Probable Line-ups:
Tunisia:
Mathlouthi; Nagguez, Benalouane, Meriah, Maaloul; Khaoui, Skhiri, Sassi; Ben Youssef, Khazri, Sliti
Panama:
Penedo; Machado, Baloy, Torres, Davis; Barcenas, Avila, Gomez, Godoy, Rodriguez; Tejada
