There are many ways of fooling your opponent on the pitch, but the Tunisian way is – we must say – quite original. The Northern Africa greats attacked Mauritania heavily and furious, straight from the kick-off to secure a 4-0 win in the Group F 2nd round tie at Limbe Omnisport Stadium.The underdogs conceded two goals in the opening nine minutes to say farewell to their AFCON hopes even before the ultimate round. They are stuck to the bottom of the log with two losses, while the Eagles of Carthage are a point adrift of Mali and Gambia.AFCON 2021: Comical refereeing overshadows Mali’s win over Tunisia22.00: (1.35) ALGERIA (5.10) EQU. GUINEA (11.0)Their Sunday’s performance in Limbe was authoritative, with Hamza Mathlouthi breaking the deadlock after only four minutes. After a bit of a ricochet in the area, the ball came to him on the right flank, and a no-nonsense approach of his proved to be more than justified.
When Tunisia hit again, the trumpets and applauses of joy following that opener were still heard in the stands. This time, it was an experienced Saint-Etienne star Wahbi Khazri to wrap things up less than ten minutes into the game.
From that moment on, Mauritania, deprived of any hope, surrendered to rivals, too weak to bounce back from such an early knockdown.The same player, Khazri, added another 15 minutes into the second half after a lovely three-piece action in which he firstly fooled his guardians before smoothly finding the back of the net.Check out the dummy and finish from Wahbi Khazri 😍 pic.twitter.com/Iks2Z890vC— Joe Crann (@YesWeCrann) January 16, 2022 The Eagles netted again almost instantly in a replica of that first-half thunderstruck. Unplayable Khazri assisted while Jaziri put his name on the score list. The rest of the game didn’t bring much of an action on both ends, as two gaffers decided to give their top players a bit of a rest ahead of the ultimate round.However, Tunisians had a chance to score their fifth, but Msakni missed from the spot, just like Khazri against Mali in the maiden fixture.
AFCON – GROUP FTunisia – Mauritania 4-0 (2-0)/Mathlouthi 4, Khazri 9, 64, Jaziri 66/Gambia – Mali 1-1 (0-0)/Barrow 90 pen – Kone 79 pen/