DOHA: It was a very changed, very different, almost unrecognizable line-up that Didier Deschamps pencilled in for this tie. The change of guise did not rattle the Tunisians in the least. If anything, it spurred them on, sensing a glimmer. Tunisia threw everything they had, the kitchen sink, the community bath and then some more at France in their mad quest to make it out of their group for the knockouts.
In the end – seventh minutes of the added eight of injury time — all eyes were fixed not on substitutes Mbappe, Griezmann and Dembele chipping away, or bombarding at the Tunisian goal, but the many mobile phones in the stadium beaming the Australia-Denmark meeting being played simultaneously. Whistles and boos greeted the defending champions each time they had the ball, and towards the end, Griezman got a goal. The stadium fell silent, faces long but stoic. Then it was ruled offside by VAR and the roof was raised again. They soon learnt about their eventual fate but it was a famous victory against one of the most powerful sides in world that would be treasured.
