It’s been a long two years since England’s humiliation in France at Euro 2016, but the time has come for them to try and lay those demons to rest in the World Cup. Their opening match takes place in Volgograd, and they will be expected to get off to a winning start for the England vs Tunisia clash.[spacer height=”30px”]
Tunisia isn’t a team to be walked over though. They showed that in their final warm-up game on Saturday as they almost held Spain to a goalless draw, only for the Spaniards to be rescued by a late Iago Aspas goal.[spacer height=”30px”]
Head to Head[spacer height=”30px”]
The Three Lions haven’t faced Tunisia in 20 years when they defeated them in the group stages of the France 1998 World Cup, with goals from Alan Shearer and Paul Scholes. Only another meeting was in a June 1990 friendly which ended 1-1.[spacer height=”30px”]
England [spacer height=”30px”]
Southgate is buoyed by a young and fresh side that features a very Tottenham and Manchester City-oriented teams, such as Kyle Walker, Dele Alli, John Stones, Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph.[spacer height=”30px”]
This is definitely what would happen if England won the #WorldCup. Definitely.#ENGTUN
Monday
1815 BST@BBCOne pic.twitter.com/3BV68k0lfq— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 17, 2018
[spacer height=”30px”]England typically does well in the qualification stages of the World Cup – they were unbeaten in the campaign leading up to Russia – but have stumbled during the actual tournament. Gareth Southgate’s side will be hoping to make a winning start in Volgograd against the highest-ranked African team in the competition to build some momentum ahead of their remaining fixtures against Panama and Belgium.[spacer height=”30px”]
The key player – Harry Kane[spacer height=”30px”]
A genuinely world-class goal scorer and one of the few players in this England squad you could consider ‘world class’. Harry Kane will captain this team and will need to be at his absolute best if the Three Lions are to do anything in this tournament. The first thing to do will be to take him off corners.[spacer height=”30px”]
This could be the year!!!#ComeOnEngland
Artwork produced for @MOTDmag
#ENGTUN #englandvstunisia #England #Tunisia #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/l0LQaOOONV— DaveMerrell (@DaveMerrell) June 18, 2018
[spacer height=”30px”]Young Player to look out – Eric Dier[spacer height=”30px”]
Not one of the biggest names in the squad, but Eric Dier is definitely one of the most trusted. The Tottenham man has played in 13 of Gareth Southgate’s 16 matches as England manager and will be a vital cog in Russia. [spacer height=”30px”]
Summarize this team for me in one emoji[spacer height=”30px”]
[spacer height=”30px”]
Predicted Line-Up[spacer height=”30px”]
[spacer height=”30px”]Tunisia[spacer height=”30px”]
Tunisia will be making their fifth appearance at the World Cup finals but have never made it out of the group stage, and are underdogs in a group that favour the likes of England and Belgium. As coach Nabil Maloul admitted, Tunisia going to the World Cup without Msakni is like Argentina entering the competition without Lionel Messi.[spacer height=”30px”]
SaifEddineKhaoui has deputized his absence and maybe the player England needs to pay the closest attention to on Monday for the England vs Tunisia fixture[spacer height=”30px”]
Player Focus: Marcus Rashford Could Be England’s Wildcard At The World Cup
[spacer height=”30px”]Key Player – Wahbi Khazri[spacer height=”30px”]
After the making the wise decision to leave Sunderland for Rennes on loan, Khazri enjoyed an impressive 2017/18 campaign in Ligue 1, scoring 11 goals in 24 appearances. The 27-year-old midfielder has now been capped 37 times for his country, and will be one of the first names on Coach Nabil Maâloul’s team-sheet in Russia ahead of the England vs Tunisia fixture.[spacer height=”30px”]
Young player to look out- Ellyes Skhiri[spacer height=”30px”]
Skhiri has so far been capped just four times at senior international level but inexperience wasn’t enough to keep the 23-year-old out of Tunisia’s plans for the World Cup.[spacer height=”30px”]
The midfielder plays for Montpellier and is a physical player with a penchant for breaking up opposition attacks and recycling possession.[spacer height=”30px”]
He started almost every game at club level last season and there’s an expectation a bigger club could come sniffing around in the near future. A good World Cup certainly won’t do him any harm and it all starts from England vs Tunisia[spacer height=”30px”]
Group G | Belgium vs Panama – What to Expect, Who to Look Out For and How the Teams will Line Up
[spacer height=”30px”]Summarize this team for me in one emoji
[spacer height=”30px”]Predicted Line-Up For England vs Tunisia[spacer height=”30px”]
[spacer height=”30px”]Prediction for England Tunisia :[spacer height=”30px”]
England are likely to win this encounter with a goal margin of 2-0.[spacer height=”30px”]
