Tunisia received a great boost in confidence yesterday, when they won 3-0 the game against Belarus.

The Carthage Eagles harried the visiting defence from the start, coming close to scoring four times before a foul on striker Ziad Jaziri by the Belarus goalkeeper in the 35th minute earned a penalty converted by Hamed Namouchi.

The 20,000-strong crowd only had to wait three minutes into the second half before striker Santos scored a second thanks to a precise pass from Riadh Bouazizi.

French coach Roger Lemerre brought off Jaziri and Santos before Tunisia completed victory when Issam Jemaa took advantage of a defensive error in the last minute.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the liveliness of my players,” Lemerre told reporters. “It was a good test to prepare for the World Cup.”

The only sour note for the home team was the 88th-minute red card given to defender Karim Haggui for a second bookable offence.

Tuesday’s friendly was the first game of a mini-tournament pitting Tunisia against teams with styles similar to FIFA World Cup Group H opponents Saudi Arabia, Spain and Ukraine. Tunisia next play Uruguay on 2 June.

Source: WCoffsite