Player ratings as Eagles of Carthage earn deserving first point for Africa

Tunisia often had Denmark on the ropes / Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/GettyImages

Tunisia earned a deserved point against Euro 2020 semi-finalists Denmark to kick off their World Cup campaign in Group C and could even have had all three with slightly better luck, writes Jamie Spencer for 90 Min.

The Danes, billed by many as dark horses in Qatar, disappointed on the whole.

Tunisia was more loudly supported inside the stadium and got off to a bright start that seemed to catch the Danes a little cold.

The first big chance went their way, too, with Mohamed Drager’s shot taking a deflection off Andreas Christensen and only narrowly flashing wide of the post.

Denmark seemed to finally catch their breath and get a foothold in the game around 20 minutes in. There was a decent chance for Joachim Andersen at a set piece, while Christian Eriksen also flashed a dangerous ball into the penalty area.

Not long after, Tunisia did have the ball in the net as Issam Jebali raced onto a long through ball and finished past Kasper Schmeichel. But the flag went up as Jebali turned to celebrate, with replays showing he had been around a yard beyond the last defender when he began his run.

After Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Aissa Laidouni had traded efforts, the best chance of the first half also went the way of Jebali. But Schmeichel channeled his father’s spirit into spreading his body as wide as possible and palming the ball behind for a corner as Jebali attempted a dinked finish.

Another offside flag chalked off a goal early in the second half, this time for Denmark.

Substitute Mikkel Damsgaard had been beyond the last line of the defense in the build-up, rendering Andreas Skov Olsen’s finish at the second time of asking meaningless.

During a brief spell in the second half, the Tunisia goal lived a charmed life, which saw Aymen Dahmen make a flying save to deny Eriksen.

From the resultant corner, Mathias Jensen’s back-post traveled agonizingly across the goal, with fellow sub-Andreas Cornelius somehow managing to head it onto the post from virtually on the line.

Substitutions and yellow cards disrupted the rhythm of the final quarter of the contest, but it was still pretty end-to-end without much in the way of clear chances.

Dahmen, who had been great all game, survived a nervous moment in stoppage time when he did just enough to parry a swirling cross-cum-shot, while Tunisian hearts were also in mouths when the referee was waved over to the pitchside monitor to review a potential penalty. The ball had dropped onto the arms of Yassine Meriah. But the official decided there wasn’t enough in it.

Denmark versus Tunisia: Player ratings

Tunisia (3-4-2-1)

GK: Aymen Dahmen – 8/10 – Did everything that was asked of him to keep a clean sheet. He made four saves overall.

CB: Dylan Bronn – 7/10 – Passed the ball forward well to try and get Tunisia onto the attack.

CB: Yassine Meriah – 7/10- Repelled everything that came his way. Survived a stoppage time handball incident that was flagged by VAR.

CB: Montassar Talbi – 7/10 – A similar story to Meriah. He made himself physically difficult to play against.

RWB: Mohamed Drager – 8/10 – Got forward to support the attack well and was an obvious threat. He defended well too.

CM: Ellyes Skhiri – 7/10 – It was important that he not lose the ball cheaply in areas Denmark could capitalize on and never did.

CM: Aissa Laidouni – 8/10 – He enjoyed a strong game where he seemed everywhere. More composure could have resulted in a goal.

LWB: Ali Abdi – 7/10 – Covered plenty of ground up and down the flank.

AM: Anis Slimane – 5/10 – Struggled to get invovled in open play. He took Tunisia’s corners while he was on the pitch.

AM: Youssef Msakni (c) – 6/10 – His shooting radar was slightly off.

ST: Issam Jebali – 8/10 – Worked Denmark back three hard for 80 minutes. They had the ball in the net but were flagged offside, forcing a world-class Schmeichel to save.

SUB: Naim Sliti (67′ for Slimane) – /10 –

SUB: Hannibal Mejbri (80′ for Jebali) – 6/10

SUB: Taha Tassine Khenissi (80′ for Msakni)

SUB: Wajdi Kechrida (88′ for Drager) – N/A

SUB: Ferjani Sassi (88′ for Laidouni) – N/A

Manager: Jalel Kadri – 8/10 – Took a much more considered approach than his opposite number and trusted his starters for longer. The game plan worked exactly as intended.

Player of the match – Aissa Laidouni (Tunisia)