Sharjah: Ten-man Tunisia scored once in each half to secure a shock 2-1 win over South American debutants Venezuela in their Group D match of the 2013 Fifa U-17 World Cup here on Friday.
Hampered after Sabri Akrout was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence in the 38th minute, the North Africans got their goals in the 25th and 47th minutes, while Venezuela pulled one back in the 52nd minute.
It was then a tussle for supremacy between the unevenly balanced opponents, with the North Africans doing well to hold on to their lead to secure their fifth win in the Fifa U-17 World Cup.
It was Tunisia who showed a lot of early enterprise, but it was Venezuela who had the first look at the rival goal as early as the eighth minute, but skipper Othman Bahaeddine was quick to clear away to safety before Samuel Marquina could do any damage.
Venezuela, who finished second behind Argentina on goal difference in the South American qualifiers, were unlucky when a David Zalzman effort hit the woodwork and bounced back into play in the 18th minute.
After this early onslaught, Tunisia slowly started asserting themselves, relying on the long ball to get past the Venezuela defence. It was one such long delivery from the right in the 25th minute that got them their first goal.
Chiheb Jbeli received a pass from Mohammad Bin Larbi on the right, powered past the onrushing goalkeeper Beycker Velasquez and slipped the ball into an empty net to make it 1-0 for Tunisia and silence the crowd from South America.
Buoyed by the goal, Tunisia started laying siege to the Venezuela goal. But a quick counter-attack from the South Americans in the 32nd minute saw Akrout handling Zalzman from behind and Saudi Arabian referee Khalil Al Gamdi sent the Tunisian defender for an early shower.
As the second half started, Venezuela had hardly got a chance to implement coach Rafael Dudamel’s half-time instructions when defender Diego Osio illegally stopped a Ben Larbi run inside the area and the referee pointed to the dreaded spot.
Ben Larbi made little fuss as he stepped up and coolly placed his spot-kick past Velasquez to make it 2-0. However, Venezuela did well to regroup and started their search for an elusive goal.
Their patience was rewarded in the 52nd minute when Jose Marquez played a fine one-two with Eduardo Maceira and the former placed the ball past Tunisian goalkeeper Sabri Ben Hessen to make it 2-1.
It was all Venezuela from then on as they built one attack after another on the Tunisian goal, but to no avail.
