Dubai: Five minutes from the final whistle in their final group match in the Under-17 World Cup against Japan, Tunisia coach Abdelhay Bel Soltan believed his side were on course for all three points.
But then Japan scored two quick goals to top Group D after a 2-1 win in Sharjah.
Ben Soltan admitted the last-gasp defeat had been a chastening experience for his boys.
“It’s been a tough week for my team. We’ve had three hard matches and luckily we have done well to get through with two wins. But we floundered in the last one against Japan and that will not happen as this is such a growth curve for my players,” Ben Soltan said.
A win would have enabled the North Africans – who ended third in the continental qualifiers earlier this year – to remain in Sharjah. But a loss meant second place in Group D coupled with a short trip to neighbouring Dubai for their last 16 match against South American giants Argentina on Tuesday.
Three weeks ago, the two teams played each other in the Spanish city of Marbella and the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
On Tuesday, whoever wins will advance to the quarter-finals, where they will meet either Ivory Coast or Morocco.
“It was definitely more difficult to contain Japan as they play as one team. With Argentina, things are going to be different as they have talented individual players rather than a team,” the Tunisian coach said.
In the third and final group match on Friday, the Argentinians were on song, smashing three goals against Canada to ensure they topped Group E ahead of Iran.
Argentina come in with the enviable record of having featured in 12 of the 15 Fifa U-17 World Cup tournaments held so far. But their best showings have been third-place finishes on three occasions — 1991, 1995 and 2003. “I think we know Tunisia quite well. They have a couple of key players and it will be left up to us to neutralise them and ensure we continue scoring goals like we did against Canada,” Argentina coach Humberto Grondona said.
“There are several areas we need to improve and one of these is definitely in our defending. We need to have more solidarity as a team and we need to fall back in numbers so that we don’t falter behind. We are definitely working on this aspect and we will be a much improved side,” Grondona said.
Fuente: http://gulfnews.com/