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FT Tunisia 1-2 England: Kane scores injury time goal to put England ahead

FT Tunisia 1-2 England: Kane scores injury time goal to put England ahead

  • Tunisia and England’s last encounter was in the group stages of the 1998 World Cup. England won 2-0 in Marseille. Their only other meeting was in a June 1990 friendly which ended 1-1.
  • England have never lost against an African team at the World Cup (W3 D3), keeping five clean sheets in six games.
  • Tunisia have qualified for their fifth World Cup, their first since 2006. They have never reached the knockout stages in their four previous appearances.
  • Tunisia won their first ever game at the World Cup on 2 June 1978 (3-1 v Mexico). Since then, they have failed to win any of their 11 subsequent games in the competition (D4 L7). The record belongs to Bulgaria who suffered a run of 17 winless games from 1962 to 1994.
  • Tunisia have kept only one clean sheet in their 12 games at the World Cup (0-0 v West Germany in June 1978).
  • This is England’s 15th World Cup. It’s also their sixth appearance in a row, equaling their longest streak in the competition (6 from 1950 to 1970).
  • Since winning their only World Cup in 1966, England have progressed past the quarter-finals only once, doing so in 1990 (4th place). England have also topped their group only once in their last five appearances (2006).
  • England have won only one of their last eight games at the World Cup (D4 L3), a 1-0 victory over Slovenia in June 2010. They have also never scored more than one goal in their last nine games at the tournament.
  • 11 of England’s 62 games at the World Cup have ended goalless, more than any other team in the history of the tournament.
  • England had the joint-best defensive record in the 2018 UEFA World Cup qualifiers alongside Spain, conceding three goals in 10 games. They were also one of four unbeaten teams, alongside Belgium, Germany and Spain.
  • Named in April 2017, this will be Nabil Maaloul’s first World Cup as manager. He played 74 games for Tunisia but never featured at the World Cup.
  • This is Gareth Southgate’s first major tournament as manager. The England boss played two games at the World Cup, back in 1998.