For a moment, we thought that Tony Chapron had come out of retirement this Saturday to referee Tunisia-Australia (0-1). We play the 23rd minute of play of this meeting of the World Cup in Qatar, when the Socceroos launch a counter-attack. In the middle of the field, the former Montpellier player Ellyes Skhiri is about to intercept a hot ball in the central circle but he collapses on the ground. Two assists and ten seconds later, Tunisia suffered the only goal of the match, on a whim from Mitchell Duke. But what exactly happened?
In slow motion, we can clearly see the German referee Daniel Siebert hooking the Tunisian midfielder, involuntarily letting his leg drag in his race. Despite challenges from Ellyes Skhiri on the spot, Daniel Siebert validated the goal. A terrible stroke of luck for the selection of Jalel Kadri, rather dominating over the whole meeting, but now almost eliminated, with only one point on the clock, before challenging France on Wednesday.
Faced with the media, the Tunisians did not return to this strange episode, like Ellyes Skhiri, the first player concerned: “We can only blame ourselves for our start to the meeting, even if we then showed that we were the best team”. Same story for his teammate Naïm Sliti: “We lost this match in the first 30 minutes. We will have to do something against France but we are capable of it. In the big meetings, we are there. We have a dream and it continues.