MOHAMED Ali Ben Romdhane scored in added time to give Tunisia a dramatic 1-0 victory against Equatorial Guinea on Monday, securing their qualification for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
This crucial win gave Tunisia an unassailable lead in Group H, making them the second African nation to secure their place at the tournament after 2022 semi-finalists Morocco.
Tunisia now have 22 points from eight games, holding a ten-point advantage over second-placed Namibia, who have one match in hand but cannot mathematically catch the Carthage Eagles.
Substitute Ben Romdhane, a midfielder with Egyptian and African giants Al Ahly, struck the decisive goal in the 94th minute after being set up by Firas Chaouat.
The 26-year-old, who joined Ahly this year from Hungarian outfit Ferencvaros, had previously scored the only goal from a penalty when Tunisia beat Equatorial Guinea in matchday 3 last year.
Ben Romdhane told Tunisian television that he anticipated the winning moment, saying he knew Chaouat would get the better of the Equatorial Guinean player in the final moments.
Fellow midfielder Ferjani Sassi described the match as the toughest of the qualifiers, citing challenging conditions including the pitch and humidity as significant factors.
Sassi added that the team knew how to adapt to the circumstances despite Equatorial Guinea having many chances, emphasizing that they believed in themselves until the very end.
Tunisia started the match in Malabo with players based in nine different countries, including Hannibal Mejbri from Premier League side Burnley.
The Eagles are coached by former centre-back Sami Trabelsi, who captained Tunisia at the 1998 World Cup in France.
This qualification marks Tunisia’s seventh appearance at the World Cup, where they will hope to improve on a record of only three victories in 18 matches and never progressing beyond the first round.
North Africa are likely to have four representatives at the 2026 World Cup with record seven-time African champions Egypt and Algeria set to join Morocco and Tunisia.
Egypt will qualify if they win a top-of-the-table Group A clash in Burkina Faso on Tuesday, while Algeria need three more points to win Group G after a 0-0 draw against Guinea.
Uganda and Mozambique narrowed the gap behind Algeria to four points with 2-0 victories over Somalia and Botswana respectively.
Algeria are away to bottom team Somalia and host Uganda in October and seem set to secure World Cup qualification for a fifth time.
Morocco demonstrated strength in depth by resting several stars, including Paris Saint-German full-back Achraf Hakimi, in a 2-0 Group E win over Zambia in Ndola.
A capacity 50,000 crowd saw Youssef en Nesyri score early in the first half and Hamza Igamane even earlier in the second half.
Morocco, who eliminated Spain and Portugal en route to the 2022 semi-finals, boast the only 100% record in Africa qualifying, winning seven matches.
Group I leaders Ghana moved closer to a fifth World Cup appearance in six editions by edging Mali 1-0 in Accra through an early second half goal from Alexander Djiku.
Ghana have 19 points, three more than Madagascar, while top seeds Mali can no longer win the section and their sole hope of survival lies in being among the best four second-placed teams.
The remaining 15 matchday 8 fixtures are scheduled for Tuesday with table-toppers Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Cape Verde and reigning African champions Ivory Coast hoping to stretch their leads.
Africa are guaranteed nine places at the 48-nation World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with the number of qualifiers potentially rising to ten after inter-continental play-offs next March. – AFP