Tunisia and Croatia face off in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Saturday in one of the many games being played in the brand-new FIFA Series this week.
In this mini-tournament arranged by FIFA, the winners of this clash will play either hosts Egypt or New Zealand in the final next week.
Match preview
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The brand-new FIFA Series will see five separate mini-tournaments played in locations all over the world between nations who would very rarely get the opportunity to face each other.
Playing in a familiar climate in North Africa for Tunisia will ideally give them an advantage, and they need it heading into this encounter on the back of a disastrous Africa Cup of Nations campaign.
Jalel Kadri left his post as manager after Tunisia crashed out at the group stage, finishing bottom of a relatively weak group.
An opening defeat to Namibia was followed up by draws with South Africa and Mali, scoring just one goal across those group matches.
Montasser Louhichi is currently in caretaker charge and has shuffled the pack with his squad selection, but it is unlikely he will remain in charge when World Cup qualifying resumes in the summer, unless he can impress the Tunisian FA this week.
Tunisia are big favourites to qualify for the next World Cup, but there is only one automatic spot in each group, so they must ensure there are no slip-ups in their section containing Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia and Sao Tome & Principe.
The Eagles of Carthage have already won their opening two qualifiers without conceding against Sao Tome and Malawi, as there is an expectation that they will reach a third consecutive finals tournament, especially given the expanded format for 2026.
Everything had been rosy in the Croatia camp after a phenomenal run to third place in the World Cup and beating the Netherlands in their own backyard in the UEFA Nations League finals, before a penalty shoot-out defeat to Spain in the final.
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The Vatreni were also cruising towards Euro 2024 qualification until shock back-to-back defeats at home to Turkey and away in Wales threw them well off-course and left their destiny out of their hands.
November's internationals suddenly took on huge importance, but wins over Latvia and Armenia sealed progression, with additional thanks being given to Armenia and Turkey, who both held Wales, allowing Zlatko Dalic's side to move into the top two.
Croatia were then rewarded with one of the toughest groups in modern European Championship history, facing Italy and Spain, as well as up-and-coming Albania.
The draw does not bode well for their hopes of improving a poor Euros record, as Croatia have never made it past the quarter-finals and have been eliminated in the last 16 in the last two tournaments.
That is in stark contrast to their World Cup record, where they were finalists in 2018 and bronze medal winners in 1998 and 2022, so Dalic will look to take his side into that difficult section in fine form with their upcoming friendlies this week and at the start of June.
Team News
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Seven players from the Tunisia squad which embarrassingly exited at the group stage of AFCON have been dropped for this international break, including the vastly experienced Youssef Msakni and Naim Sliti in attack.
Anis Ben Slimane is also not part of the squad, along with defensive trio Ali Maaloul, Yan Valery and Montassar Talbi, while Yassine Meriah and Bassem Srarfi are late pull-outs with injury.
Domestic-based Mannai Faissal has been handed his first-ever call-up by the new manager and could be in line to make his international debut at age 28.
Josip Sutalo and Martin Baturina have had to pull out of the Croatia squad with injury after Dalic's announcement, with Duje Caleta-Car and Marco Pasalic drafted in to replace them.
Luka Sucic is also struggling with injury, while Bologna's Nikola Moro has been overlooked after struggling for game time with the Serie A club.
Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic has assured his manager he is fine after being struck by a supporter following the ugly scenes after his Fenerbahce side won away to Trabzonspor at the weekend.
On their respective returns back home to the Croatian top flight, Ivan Perisic and Marko Pjaca are set to battle for a starting spot on the left-wing, but the former is yet to fully recover from an ACL injury suffered in his spell at Tottenham Hotspur.
Tunisia possible starting lineup:
Ben Said; Kechrida, Bronn, Mathlouthi, Abdi; Skhiri, Laidouni, Ben Romdhane; Rafia, Jaziri, Achouri
Croatia possible starting lineup:
Livakovic; Stanisic, Erlic, Gvardiol, Sosa; Brozovic, Modric, Kovacic; Mario Pasalic, Petkovic, Kramaric
We say: Tunisia 0-1 Croatia
Dalic must utilise the four games ahead of Euro 2024 wisely, with a changing of the guard taking place within the Croatia squad and a devilishly difficult group to navigate in Germany.
Tunisia are looking to recover from a hopeless showing at AFCON and may be revitalised with a new-look squad, but this is a very difficult test for them.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
