Tunisia is playing in Group H along with Spain, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia. They have participated in the World Cup thrice in 1978, 1998 and 2002. The team of Tunisia is nicknamed Carthages Eagles. In 1978, Tunisia defeated Mexico 3-1 in their first group match and became the first African country to win a game at the finals of the FIFA World Cup. In the next match they were defeated 1-0 by Poland. They secured a goalless draw against Germany. They won a match with Mexico and secured a place in the history books.
In 1998, the Carthages Eagles lost to England and Colombia. They drew a match with Romania. In 2002 they lost to Russia and Japan. They had a draw with Belgium. It was only in 1978 that Tunisia won a match. They are awaiting their next victory in a World Cup final.
Tunisia was amongst the five African countries that played at South Korea/Japan 2002. For this reason, the Carthages Eagles were not required to play in the preliminary African qualifying rounds for the 2006 finals. Under the guidance of coach Roger Lemerre they successfully secured a place in the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006.
Carthages Eagles had won the CAF African Cup of Nations in Tunis in February 2004. In the final then the team defeated Morocco 2-1 at the Rades stadium and it enthralled all the fans out there.
In their qualifying match, Carthages Eagles encountered Morocco again. They were on top as far as performance was concerned even though both the matches ended in draws. In Rabat it was 1-1 and in Tunis it was 2-2.
The North Africans made it to the finals of Germany 2006 quite comfortably. They were defeated only once. They lost to Guinea 2-1. Tunisia had six wins and three draws. Ziad Jaziri, Santos, Adel Chadli and captain Hatem Trabelsi are the star players of the team.
Tunisia has proved that they are a team to watch this FIFA season.