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Why you should watch every team at the 2018 World Cup

By Harrison Hamm

Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Ecuador during their 2018 World Cup qualifier football match in Quito, on October 10, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Juan Ruiz (Photo credit should read JUAN RUIZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Ecuador during their 2018 World Cup qualifier football match in Quito, on October 10, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Juan Ruiz (Photo credit should read JUAN RUIZ/AFP/Getty Images) /
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BRAGA, PORTUGAL – MAY 28: Fakhreddine Ben Youssef of Tunisia celebrates with his team-mates after scoring his team’s second goal during the friendly match of preparation for FIFA 2018 World Cup between Portugal and Tunisia at the Estadio AXA on May 28, 2018 in Braga, Portugal. (Photo by Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
BRAGA, PORTUGAL – MAY 28: Fakhreddine Ben Youssef of Tunisia celebrates with his team-mates after scoring his team’s second goal during the friendly match of preparation for FIFA 2018 World Cup between Portugal and Tunisia at the Estadio AXA on May 28, 2018 in Braga, Portugal. (Photo by Quality Sport Images/Getty Images) /

Tunisia

Like Sweden, Tunisia have not played in the World Cup since 2006, and required a narrow result on the final day of qualification to sneak in. African qualifying is especially brutal — Algeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast were among the sides that failed to get in — and Tunisia required a 0-0 home draw with pesky Libya on the final day to beat out the DR Congo by one point.

It’s been a good cycle for non-Algeria North African nations. Egypt and Morocco will join Tunisia in Russia, showing the talent festering in nations that have begun to emerge from war. Their rosters include a favorable combination of domestic and European-based talent, and they seem to be ready to compete with and possibly overtake West Africa as Africa’s premier region. Libya, still struggling with political conflicts, will get there.

Tunisia’s best players include striker Youssef Msakni, who has 14 international goals and plays professionally in Qatar, and goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi, their captain and a longtime fixture for domestic club Etoile Sportive du Sahel until he left for Saudi Arabia this season. French dual-national Yohan Benalouane, of Leicester City in the Premier League, switched full-time to Tunisia after years of hoping for a France call-up, and was brought in for his first caps in March.

They will have to challenge Belgium and England for a spot in the knockout stage, far from an easy task for a team without a defined star. But Tunisia can levitate themselves higher than they ever have before on the world stage, and they could steal some hearts as underdogs, especially just seven years removed from the Arab Spring.

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