Former Montpellier, Tunisian midfielder Ellyes Skhiri delivers his analysis after the 1-5 defeat against Brazil on Tuesday in Paris, and projects himself on the World Cup in Qatar.
The game : «It had a very nice atmosphere. It’s a pity that the game went like this… We were maybe a little too aggressive, I don’t know. It’s a tough score, that’s for sure, but there are a lot of lessons in this kind of game. We played against a very good Brazilian team, we gave what we could in the second half. There were some nice things. Of course, this is not enough, we will continue to prepare for the future. We have seen that they are very effective. On their first situation, they punish. Afterwards, we did better in the second half, we tried to get the ball out sometimes and we saw that we could also have good sequences of play. Afterwards, we played against the world’s top, we have a lot to learn. It’s part of our learning. We have a young team. It’s a very good test.»
A box that could hurt your head : «I do not think so. We were playing against one of the best teams in the world. We have seen that we still have a lot to learn, but also that in sequences, we can show a beautiful face. Afterwards, the truth for us will be at the start of the World Cup. We hope we will be ready for that.»
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The teachings : «We may have lost our nerves. I’m not going to talk about refereeing, it won’t help me… But there are plenty of situations that need to be better managed. Depth management for example. They have the technical quality to put the balls and they found flaws like that. We will analyze the matches, see what was and what was not. We don’t come out with our heads in the bag either. We tried to show our best side, especially after the break. We lost against better than us.»
The atmosphere ? It remained in a fairly legit setting and it was a party in the stands.
Ellyes Skhiri
The atmosphere : «We are very happy, very proud, we thank them greatly. The atmosphere was beautiful. Unfortunately, perhaps a little extinguished quickly by the result and the facts of the game. But we thank them. It was a nice atmosphere. It could have been an even better football party. But the evening is still beautiful for the supporters. Whistles and throwing projectiles? We are aware that there are often these kinds of facts, regardless of the nation. They are there to encourage us. Inevitably, there is rivalry with the adversary. Afterwards, I think the whistles stopped quickly, there was a fairly quick awareness among the supporters. These are not necessarily things we like to see, we respect the Brazilian team and we were very happy to face them. There is inevitably animosity because there is motivation on both sides but I think that it remained in a fairly legit framework and that it was a party in the stands.»
Tunisia better equipped for the World Cup than in 2018 : «Yes. There are players who have gained experience for four years, who will be in their second competition, I am one of them. I hope we will all have learned and that we will start the competition with a big match against Denmark. It will be a very important match to launch the competition. Afterwards, we are also aware of the quality of our group: Denmark, France and we are not going to underestimate Australia. We are certainly not starting as favourites. But in a competition like this, anything is possible. We want to create the exploit. We are going to play a team from Denmark that I find very underrated. We could see it with the victory over France recently (2-0 Sunday in Copenhagen, editor’s note). We will have to be present and prepare for this match as well as possible because it will be essential for the rest of the tournament.»
