Tunisia defeat Chile 2-0 in Kirin Cup opener

Tunisia defeated Chile 2-0 in the inaugural game of the Kirin Cup tournament in Japan, which was classified as a semi-final because just four nations are competing this year.

This encounter served as a lifeline for both sides, as both had underwhelming results prior to the Cup. Chile failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and did not even make the play-offs. They were also disappointed after losing 0-2 against Korea and receiving a red card.

In Tunisia’s previous fixtures the team recorded two victories, two draws, and one loss. They went for the win against their Chilean opponents with defenders Ali Abdi, who opened the scoring, Montassar Talbi, Nader Ghandri, Mohamed Drager and goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen performing creditably.

The 88th minute goal from Issam Jebali, assisted by Drager, which came about as the Chileans pushed further up the pitch for an equaliser, sealed the win for the Tunisians. But, there was late drama when midfielder Ferjani Sassi was penalised for handling the ball in the area and a penalty was given.

However, the opportunity to halve the deficit was fluffed when Diego Valencia’s spot-kick to the bottom-left corner was saved by the Tunisia goalkeeper Dahmen in injury time to preserve his clean sheet.