Penalty kicks decide Tunisia’s match against Croatia after a scoreless draw

The goalless draw was decided 90 minutes into the national team match Tunisia vs CroatiaDuring the match between the two teams at Cairo Stadium, broadcast on On Time Sports, in the semi-finals of the Egyptian Capital Cup, which is being held on Egyptian soil during the current period.

The first half witnessed great excitement, especially after Hamza Djilassi, the Tunisian national team player, scored a goal in the 31st minute, but it was canceled due to offside, by the Egyptian referee Mohamed Maarouf, who was managing the match.

Hamza Djilassi scores a goal for the Tunisian national team against Croatia… but the referee returns to VAR and cancels the goal ✋✋#Egypt_Capital_Cup pic.twitter.com/NRGiGSpJvc

— OnTime Sports (@ONTimeSports) March 23, 2024

The exchange of attacks continued between the two teams in the second half, and Tunisia had more than one opportunity to advance, but luck was not with the Carthage Eagles team, so the tie continued after 90 minutes and the two teams resorted to penalty shoot-out kicks.

The formation of the Tunisian national team was as follows:
Goalkeeper: Bashir bin Saeed
Defense line: Dylan Bron, Osama Al-Haddadi, Hamza Al-Jalasi and Ali Al-Abdi
Midfield: Wajdi Kashrida, Issa Al-Aidouni, Nader Al-Ghandari and Muhammad Ali bin Ramadan.
Offensive line: Elias Al-Ashouri and Hamza Rafia

Formation of the Croatian national team
Goalkeeper: Livakovic
Defense: Gvardiol, Martin Erlich, Marko Ivanovic, Josip Buranovic
Midfield: Mateo Kovacic, Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Mario Pasalic
Attack: Andrej Kramaric, Borna Sosa

Tunisia vs Croatia

The Tunisian national team entered the match, led by Anis Al-Busaidi and Montaser Al-Wahshi, the interim coaches, looking to achieve victory over Croatia, the 2018 World Cup runner-up, to boost its self-confidence before competing in the 2025 African Cup of Nations finals.

The Tunisian national team aims to gain the most benefit from this tournament, in order to return to the scene again, after the great disappointments that the Eagles of Carthage have experienced since the Qatar World Cup 2022, where they failed in the last African Nations Cup, Côte d’Ivoire 2023, where they lost one match and tied two matches, and finished in last place in a group that included Namibia, South Africa and Mali.

Tunisia vs Croatia

The Tunisian national team’s roster in the Egyptian Capital Cup witnessed a number of absences, whether due to injuries or other reasons, including Ali Maaloul, the Al-Ahly club star, Youssef Msakni, the Qatari Al-Arabi team star, and the absence of Hannibal Mejbri, the English Manchester United player who is currently on loan to the Spanish team Seville, continues. While Saif El-Din Al-Jaziri, Zamalek striker, is on the list.

The trio, Yassine Meriah, Hossam Taqa, and Aman Allah Mamish, were exempted from participating in the international friendly tournament, in order to prepare with their team, Esperance, to face ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals of the African Champions League.

Tunisia vs Croatia match

On the other hand, the Croatian national team, led by coach Zlatko Dalic, seeks to assert its strength on the international scene and achieve a moral victory over Tunisia before competing in the 2024 European Nations Championship.

In the match with Tunisia, the Croatia national team will miss the services of veteran duo Ivan Perisic, the English star of Tottenham, who is loaned to the Croatian club Hajduk Split, and Ante Budimir, the Spanish star of Osasuna, due to injury.

The Croatian national team in the Egyptian Capital Cup is armed with veteran Real Madrid star Luka Modric, while Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol tops the list of players with the highest marketing value among the Warriors, with a marketing value of up to 75 million euros.

The Croatia national team has not achieved any title in its history, but it has been constantly present in the World Cup recently, as it participated in the last three editions out of 6 times, and its most prominent historical achievements came by reaching the semi-finals of the 2028 World Cup, before Zlatko Dalic reached them to the 2018 final, then He repeats the matter and achieves third place in the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.