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It was just seconds after the opening whistle in the first match of Group D at the curiously named Education City stadium.
Tunisia midfielder Aissa Laidouni went through Danish superstar Christian Eriksen with a clean tackle of ferocious intensity. He immediately turned to his fans, arms flailing and whipped them into an instant frenzy.
On display was a combination of raw passion and calculated intent, according to ex-Tunisia international and former Melbourne Victory star Fahid Ben Khalfallah, who is part of the SBS World Cup on air team in Qatar.
“Laidouni knows when he comes in with that tackle so aggressively the crowd is going crazy," Ben Khalfallah said.
"He knows this, and that crowd is going behind them intensely and when things don’t go their way in the match, like it did at times, the crowd will push and keep on pushing and that’s massive. When I talk about this, I’m getting goosebumps."
Tunisian fans made up around 80% of the crowd against Denmark, their unbridled emotion over the 97 minutes showed how much a first Arab World Cup means to the team and the nation.
“I think the crowd will make a massive difference, I don’t think the team will play afraid; they can make history, they can actually make history. It’s a similar situation to Australia in 2006," Ben Khalfallah said.
Tunisia have never qualified for the knockout stages of a World Cup. With that valuable point against Denmark, the Carthage Eagles are expected to adopt an attacking approach from the start.
"It’s the same for both teams, a win is a must to have any chance to go through," he explained.
"For Tunisia, they will be aggressive no doubt, they will want to apply a lot of pressure early on and try to expose any weakness in the Socceroos."
The Tunisian central midfield of Ellyes Skhiri and Laidouni matched and at times got the better of their world class Danish counterparts Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Christian Eriksen, and Ben Khalfallah believes the midfield battle will go a long way in deciding the outcome against Australia.
"If Hrustic is ruled fit and plays with Mooy and Irvine, that is Australia’s strength," he said.
"For Tunisia, they are also strong in the middle like they showed against Denmark, Laidouni stood up, he never took a backward step. Skhiri, who plays in the Bundesliga regularly with FC Koln, is classy and maybe Ferjani Sassi gets a start. The middle of the pitch should be a great battle."
The World Cup parallels between Australia and Tunisia are uncanny. Both nations are making their sixth appearance, and both have only won two matches at this level.
They also share a win each in two previous matches. In 1997, leading up to the World Cup play-offs against Iran, Australia outclassed Tunisia in Tunis, 3-0, courtesy of goalscorers Aurelio Vidmar, Mark Viduka and Matthew Bingley. Eighteen-year-old Harry Kewell played in only his second match for Australia. Seven weeks later, he scored his famous first goal for the Socceroos in Tehran.
At the 2005 Confederations Cup in Leipzig, Germany, it was Tunisia’s day against Australia. Brazil-born Francileudo Santos (whose mother was Tunisian) scored a double to inflict a third straight loss on the Socceroos in a group which included heavyweights Germany and Argentina.
November 26 could be seen as the trilogy in Qatar. Two nations, one prize, in the cutthroat arena of World Cup football.
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