All is set at the Hamadi Al-Agrebi Stadium Rades in Tunis, venue of the Tunisia vs Sao Tome and Principe Group H World cup qualifier match. Following recent defeats, both teams are aiming to return to winning ways this Friday.
Sao Tome’s Luis Leal, seeking his first goal since March, is expected to lead the attack while Joazhifel Soares is set to earn his 34th cap for the away side.
“We have a very young team. We know that it will be a very difficult game” says Adriano Eusebio, Sao Tome and Principe manager. “But we know that we have our chance. Maybe 30 per cent, maybe 70 per cent for Tunisia, but we believe.”
Facing an opponent ranked 154 places below them in FIFA rankings, the Eagles of Carthage, unbeaten at home for over two years, strongly believe in securing a victory on their turf, but Sao Tome have dismissed this saying they are not intimidated.
“Yeah we’re confident. As I said it’s a new competition. The group looks strong. Probably say, well Tunisia’s the best team in our group I’d probably say. As I said to you, the game of football is 90 minutes and anything can happen. We’re going to give it our best and hopefully we come across the line.”
The group H world cup qualifier have Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia and São Tomé and Príncipe who concluded their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a 6-0 defeat against Nigeria on September 10.
The tiny African nation is ranked 184th in the world, with its only wins in the past decade over Mauritius, Libya and Ethiopia.
Source: Africa News
