Cymru and Africa (pt.1) – Tunisia
Although Cymru has only ever played once against a team from Africa, there are nevertheless many connections between us and that continent.
To celebrate the upcoming 34th edition of the African Cup of Nations starting later this month in Cote D’Ivoire, over the next few blogs we’ll go on a tour of Africa exploring some of those connections. And we’ll start with the opponents in that solitary match we have played against a Confederation of African Football (CAF) member.
Tunisia
In 1998 Tunisia had qualified for only its second ever World Cup. Twenty years earlier they earned the distinction of being the first African nation to win a World Cup finals match when they beat Mexico 3-1 in Rosario in their opening match. They then lost narrowly 1-0 to the eventual third place team, Poland, and held reigning champions West Germany to a goalless draw.
Drawn in a group with England they were keen, as was customary ahead of tournaments, to play a British style by way of preparation and Bobby Gould’s Wales agreed to face ‘The Eagles of Carthage’ in Tunis in the second of a two match end-of-season tour. In the tour opener Cymru won 3-0 in Valletta against Malta, notable for Craig Bellamy’s first international goal, and Ryan Green becoming the youngest male international. In response to the latter, Ryan Giggs referred to his Wolves namesake’s call-up as a ‘typical Gould stunt’. Though at least Green made the friendly trip, Ryan….
Having drawn 0-0 with Jamaica in the previous match, Bobby Gould’s team went into the Tunisia match showing rare defensive solidity. Shambolic off-field preparations however undermined morale. The squad’s plane malfunctioned in Valletta and was delayed for seven hours. The hotel provided by the Tunisian FA was “not acceptable” according to Gould so the squad moved. The match’s kick off time was changed and then changed again back to its original time, and there were too few footballs for training. The disruption conspired with the travel, heat, and declining morale and an appalling performance saw Tunisia win with ease.
An aimless long ball caused panic in the Welsh high defensive line and poor communication between Chris Coleman and goalkeeper Andy Marriott (who never played for Wales again) allowed Imed Ben Younes to score his seventh international goal. Khaled Badra then scored with embarrassing ease as he strolled through the Welsh midfield and fired into the bottom corner from 25 yards. The second half improved marginally until the final quarter when Sabri Jaballah rose between Gary Speed and Robbie Savage to score his only international goal. The inept performance was capped late on when Green under minimal threat inexplicably nudged the ball into safety with his upper arm to concede a soft but valid penalty.
A clearly seething Gary Speed tried to lob the Tunisian goalkeeper straight from the restart. He hadn’t calmed down by the time he returned to the dressing room and vented his and the squad’s collective spleen at Gould.
“[Speed] was like a volcano, he was disappointed about the result and he just exploded” said Gould’s assistant, Graham Williams, in Red Dragons.
So easy was it for Tunisia that their coach is quoted in Red Dragons as regretting the match for not being anywhere near the challenge his team required ahead of France 98, in which they won a single point and went home at the final whistle. Tunisians probably blame Gould too. The only positive was the smart all green Lotto kit we wore.
You can watch some of the shitshow here.
