Tunisia coach Jalel Kadri said his side lacked the finishing touches in Saturday’s 1-0 World Cup Group D defeat by Australia, a result that puts their place in the last 16 in jeopardy.
Mitchell Duke’s goal in the 23rd minute was enough for Australia to win a World Cup match for the first time since 2010.
Tunisia will now need to beat defending champions France in their final group stage match to have any chance of progressing.
“We lacked the final touch and were not realistic. The performance in the first half was not up to expectations and we didn’t create many chances,” Kadri told reporters.
“The situation changed in the second half and we created some chances but couldn’t score the ball.”
“Australia forced us to play their style and we reacted more than acted and Australia relied on physicality. So we can’t say that we had a bad performance overall, but we lacked efficiency in front of goal.”
Kadri said he believed his team didn’t deserve to lose but failed to capitalize on their chances while Australia managed just two shots on goal.
“We lost an important match but we will give everything we have in the last match,” he said, adding that he would make several substitutions in the final match against France.
“We don’t change the lineup for the sake of change, we make adjustments to adapt to the opponents’ game. We will analyze our work and correct the mistakes.”
France, who beat Australia in their opener, will advance to the last 16 if they beat Denmark later on Saturday.
