Tunisia's Wahbi Khazri, centre, is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal against Panama. AFPSaransk: Neatly-taken second-half goals by Fakhreddine Ben Yousseff and Wahbi Khazri gave Tunisia a 2-1 victory over Panama in their final Group G match in Saransk on Thursday and secured the North Africans their first World Cup finals win in 40 years.
The result brought some vindication for Tunisia, who coach Nabil Maaloul had admitted before the game were demoralised after their defeats by England and Belgium.
But it was tough for Panama, making their first appearance in a World Cup finals, and for their fans in the Monrovia Arena who for a while could dream they might grab a historic win.
"We wanted to snatch this victory, and I wanted to score, and I did. This is a great day for Tunisia," said man of the match Ben Yousseff.
"We know it is the first time for the Panamanian side but it doesn't mean it was easy to defeat them."
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
Belgium players celebrate after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
Belgium's Nacer Chadli and England's Danny Rose after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
England manager Gareth Southgate and Trent Alexander-Arnold after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
Belgium's Marouane Fellaini in action with England's Jordan Pickford. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
England's Jordan Pickford and John Stones applaud the fans after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
England's Jamie Vardy (left) vies with Belgium's Moussa Dembele during the World Cup Group G match at the Kaliningrad Stadium on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
England's Gary Cahill clears the ball off the goal line during the World Cup Group G match between England and Belgium at the Kaliningrad Stadium on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
Russian billionaire Leonid Fedun (right) attends the World Cup Group G match between England and Belgium at the Kaliningrad Stadium on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
Belgian soccer fans cheer while waiting to cross the Polish-Russian border on their way to the World Cup Group G soccer match between Belgium and England at Grzechotki-Mamonovo crossing point, Poland June 28, 2018. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
Belgian soccer fans gather before crossing the Polish-Russian border on their way to the World Cup Group G soccer match between Belgium and England. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
Belgian soccer fans gather before crossing the Polish-Russian border on their way to the World Cup Group G soccer match between Belgium and England. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: England vs Belgium
English soccer fans gather while waiting to cross the Polish-Russian border on their way to the World Cup Group G soccer match between Belgium and England at Grzechotki-Mamonovo crossing point. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Tunisia vs Panama
Panama's players celebrate after scoring against Tunisia at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Tunisia vs Panama
Panama's Jose Luis Rodriguez (left) celebrates next to Ricardo Avila his team's opening goal against Tunisia at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Tunisia vs Panama
Panama's Roman Torres vies with Tunisia's Wahbi Khazri (right) during the World Cup Group G match at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia players celebrate in front of fans after Yerry Mina scores their first goal. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's Yerry Mina (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against Senegal Colombia at the Samara Arena on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's Yerry Mina (rear centre) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against Senegal at the Samara Arena on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's Falcao (left) vies for the ball with Senegal's Idrissa Gana Gueye and Senegal's Cheikhou Kouyate during the World Cup Group H match between Senegal and Colombia at the Samara Arena on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's Johan Mojica in action with Senegal's Ismaila Sarr. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's Yerry Mina and Davinson Sanchez in action with Senegal's M'Baye Niang. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's Mateus Uribe in action. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's Johan Mojica goes down after sustaining an injury. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's fans cheer as they arrive to attend the World Cup Group H match between Senegal and Colombia at the Samara Arena on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Senegal's Sadio Mane reacts during the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Senegal vs Colombia
Colombia's Mateus Uribe in action with Senegal's Ismaila Sarr and Cheikhou Kouyate. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan players applaud their fans as they qualified for the second round. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan players applaud fans after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan players after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan's Shinji Kagawa applauds fans after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan's goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima greets his son Kensei after the final whistle during the World Cup Group H match between Japan and Poland at the Volgograd Arena on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Poland players celebrate victory after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan players after the match. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Poland's Jan Bednarek (2nd left) celebrates with Kamil Glik (right) and teammates after scoring the opener against Japan at the Volgograd Arena on June 28, 2018. AFP
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Poland's Michal Pazdan reacts after a challenge. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan's Gotoku Sakai in action with Poland's Artur Jedrzejczyk. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Poland's Jan Bednarek in action with Japan's Yoshinori Muto. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan fans watching the action during the World Cup match between Japan and Poland. Reuters
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FIFA World Cup: Japan vs Poland
Japan's Yoshinori Muto (left) pressures Poland's goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski during the World Cup Group H match between Japan and Poland at the Volgograd Arena on June 28, 2018. AFP
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The North Africans, playing fluent and composed football, had much the better of the first half. But they trailed 1-0 at half-time against the run of play after a shot by Panama's Jose Luis Rodriguez took a deflection off Tunisian defender Yassine Meriah in the 33rd minute for an own goal.
Having failed to finish off several chances in the first half, Tunisia took six minutes to assert themselves after the restart. Ben Yousseff picked up a neat low cross from Khazri to slot the ball home from close range.
Ben Yousseff should have given Tunisia the lead minutes later but Panama goalkeeper Jaime Penedo stuck out his foot to parry the shot. Khazri, who had always looked dangerous, obliged in the 66th minute, running unmarked on to a low cross from defender Oussama Haddadi to tap into an open goal.
Panama often seemed to lack confidence going forward, and they suffered when captain Roman Torres, who had marshalled the defence well, departed with an injury early in the second half.
Still, they pushed hard for an equaliser and caused anxious moments for Tunisia as the clock ticked away but lacked the killer instinct.
The two teams had already been eliminated from the tournament before the match started, both having lost to England and Belgium.
Battle for pride
But they played for pride in a spirited duel and the fervour of the more than 37,000 fans in the Mordovia Arena belied the notion that this was a pointless match between to two lowly nations.
The North Africans, making their fifth appearance in the World Cup finals, had not won a game since beating Mexico in Argentina in 1978 to become the first African country to win a match at the tournament.
Panama were making their debut and will go home disappointed, having declared their dream of making history by taking at least a point.
Panama and Tunisia had both been at the wrong end of the biggest scoring games of the tournament, with Panama being thumped 6-1 by England and Tunisia going down 5-2 to Belgium.
Panama have conceded nine goals in Russia and Tunisia seven.
Going into the game, Tunisia coach Maaloul had sounded frustrated but the victory cheered him up, at least a bit. "Perhaps in the second match we should have been better. Our performance against England was very good...we should have been more defensive against Belgium," Maaloul said.
"When we landed in this group we knew our best hope will be to come third. This is an exceptional World Cup and we have four Arab teams. Perhaps the Arab squads have not reached the level. We have to improve the performance."
