WCB Team Member: Jenny

I’m very excited to be joining the World Cup Blog team! I’m an American, married to a Tunisian and I’ve been following Tunisian soccer for the past five years. I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, but along the way I’ve come to love the game as much as my Tunisian in-laws. The perspective I bring here might be a little different, a little less focused on just the stats, but I’ll do my best to keep it informative and entertaining.

I first became aware of World Cup football in 1994 when the Cup was held in USA. I watched a few of the games, but it didn’t really hold my interest. When I found myself backpacking through Europe during World Cup 1998, things were different. In every country we visited, fans were glued to the television. Europe was living and breathing football while we were there. We saw matches in progress from the top of the Eiffel Tower. By chance, we watched Italy win with a crowd of happy locals in a bar in Venice. The excitement was infectious. By the time we got to Amsterdam, we were planning our days around the games so that we could watch, usually with beer in hand. In Prague we watched the unfortunate USA – Iran game. We might have told some people we were Canadian that night, after the own goal was scored.

In 2001, I married a soccer player and a true fan. My husband had grown up playing soccer in the streets of his home town and went on to play in high school and college. His enthusiasm was contagious and by the time World Cup 2002 came along, I was almost as hooked as he was. No true fan will settle for a pre-recorded game, so we found ourselves watching live games from Korea at 3am in the morning. Tunisia’s performance in 2002 was rather disappointing, with a 32nd place finish (in other words, last), but I can still remember my husband’s excitement when they managed to tie Belgium and earn their only point of the contest. I was hooked.

In 2004, we followed along as Tunisia won the Nations Cup in a final against rival Morocco. This earned Tunisia a spot in the Confederations Cup in 2005. Tunisia managed to come in third in their group with a win over Australia. Their path to World Cup 2006 qualification was a tightly contested battle. It all came down to their last match against Morocco, where they managed to secure their World Cup spot with a tie. A loss would have sent Morocco to Germany instead.

For 2006, Tunisia has been placed in group H with Spain, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia. My husband and I both think there’s a very good chance that Tunisia will be able to advance with this draw, but they must play well. Tunisia has a reputation for letting nerves get the best of them in key matches, but I think with the help of former French national coach Roger Lemerre and their performances in the Nations Cup 2004 and 2006, Confederations Cup 2005 and the qualifying matches, they are finally starting to put an end to that. In 1978, in their first appearance in a World Cup, Tunisia became the first African team to win a game in the finals with a 3-1 victory over Mexico. Since then, they have managed two draws, but have not had a second win. We can only hope that second win will happen this June in Germany.