Tunisia won at the second time of asking but it was still not enough to send them through. This was the cruellest yet most honourable of exits and they will wonder how, having built on a creditable draw with Denmark by outplaying a second‑string France team, they will not be making their knockout stage debut. The answer lies in the defeat sandwiched between the two, an unexpected hiccup against Australia that ultimately meant they and their raucous contingent of supporters must head home.
For a joyful couple of second-half minutes they thought history was in the making. Wahbi Khazri had just scored the goal they deserved, crowning a relentless personal performance after slaloming through a misshapen and dozy bunch of France stand-ins, and the noise from three-quarters of the crowd had reached fever pitch. They would have been home and dry as things stood but then Mathew Leckie contrived an unexpected winner against the Danes, who failed to effect the turnaround Tunisia relied upon.
