2026 World Cup Team Chronicle·Tunisia: They Do Not Mind Grinding a Match Down to One Breath

Tunisia's World Cup does not begin easily with the word beautiful.

Watch them for ten minutes and you may remember three things: a midfielder sliding sideways, a full-back clearing into touch, a goalkeeper bending to pull his socks up. The flags in the stands are red and white. The drums are loud. On the pitch, nobody is in a hurry.

There is a North African patience here: they do not mind an ugly match.

In Argentina, 1978, Tunisia beat Mexico 3-1. It was the first World Cup win by an African team. Now it can sound like a footnote. Put it back into that summer and it was not a footnote. It was a door opening. They trailed, then returned. Ali Kaabi equalized, Nejib Ghommidh put them ahead, Mokhtar Dhouieb finished it. The score looks clean on paper. What stayed was larger: an African side had arrived not as decoration.

Many years followed. 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018. Tunisia kept appearing, then leaving. Not because they had no players, not because they had no body. The missing piece was often the last action. They could slow a match, crowd midfield, turn the center of the pitch into a market. But near the box, someone still had to look up, risk, and hit the pass or shot that changes a night.

That is why the 1-0 win over France in 2022 remains so clear.

Lusail. France had already qualified and rotated, but the World Cup has no rule that says a win counts less because the opponent rotated. Wahbi Khazri drove through the middle with French legs around him. He did not pass. He carried, kept carrying, like riding a bicycle through a narrow alley. Near the box he leaned and pushed the ball into the far corner.

Goal.

He was substituted soon after and sat on the bench with an expression that was hard to name. Tunisia had beaten the defending champion and still went out because of the other match. It was a very Tunisian victory: hard, proud, and incomplete.

In 2026, the old question remains.

There is a spine. Ellyes Skhiri runs, blocks lanes, and kills the first forward pass. He is not the sort of player children choose first for a shirt, but coaches sleep because of players like him. The ball comes, he stands. A teammate rushes, he covers. The match gets loose, he pulls it back toward order.

Aissa Laidouni brings a different flame. Not showy anger, but the kind that chases back the half-step just lost. Tunisia need that. They cannot let matches become open sprints. Better teams enjoy open sprints. Tunisia want a narrow doorway where everyone has to turn sideways.

At the back, Montassar Talbi, Yassine Meriah, Ali Abdi and others give the side shape and stubbornness. This is not the most luxurious defense at the tournament. It is not trying to be. Its job is to make the opposing striker curse, make the winger think twice before asking for the ball again.

The front line carries memory. Youssef Msakni was once the Tunisian player who made matches suddenly soften. A shoulder, a turn, the ball escaping a crowd. Time has not spared him, or anyone. If he is still near the squad in 2026, he is more like an old lamp: it may not light the whole street, but on certain nights it still matters.

Khazri is the same kind of memory now. That goal against France will be replayed. But Tunisia cannot ask memory to rescue every match. Elias Achouri, Issam Jebali, Hamza Rafia and Naim Sliti have to supply the thing Tunisia often lacks: one clean final pass, one extra carry into the box, one brave decision after the 70th minute.

My view is simple: no strong team wants Tunisia as an easy opponent.

They can make a match very small. Small enough to become set pieces, one counterattack, the sound of a goalkeeper's glove on the ball. That kind of match irritates stronger sides and suits Tunisia. But to go further, defense alone is not enough. In a three-game group, there will be one night they must go and take something.

Their ceiling depends on whether they can turn hard into ruthless.

They opened a door in 1978. They made France lower their head once in 2022. In 2026, they will bring the same red-and-white stubbornness.

Do not complain that they are slow.

Slow may be exactly where they want you.

2026 squad list by position

Note: projected from recent call-ups and qualifying use as of May 2026. The final 26-player squad depends on the official roster.

• Goalkeepers: Bechir Ben Said, Aymen Dahmen, Mouez Hassen
• Defenders: Montassar Talbi, Yassine Meriah, Ali Abdi, Wajdi Kechrida, Dylan Bronn, Nader Ghandri, Mohamed Drager
• Midfielders: Ellyes Skhiri, Aissa Laidouni, Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane, Hannibal Mejbri, Anis Ben Slimane, Hamza Rafia
• Forwards: Youssef Msakni, Wahbi Khazri, Issam Jebali, Elias Achouri, Naim Sliti, Haythem Jouini

If you like reading the World Cup through roles and positions, play a round here: https://wordlecup.today/en/football/