Tunisians say Russia can be beaten

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KOBE, Japan (Reuters) -- Tunisia's players were quick to give hope to the other World Cup group H teams after their 2-0 defeat by Russia on Wednesday, saying their opponents had plenty of weaknesses and were flattered by the scoreline.

After going two goals behind in the second half, the Tunisians made several chances with their pace and skilful running, but were let down by a lack of composure near goal.

"The strong thing about Russia was their short passes and lots of movement," Tunisia forward Ziad Jaziri said.

"Their physical presence was also quite strong, but with our technical qualities we could pass through them. Their defense was very slow. It wasn't hard to dribble past them."

That assessment may give heart to co-host Japan, who will also be looking to get through the Russian defenses with the same fast-paced attacking display it showed in its dramatic 2-2 draw with Belgium on Tuesday.

Japan takes on Russia in Yokohama on June 9, while Tunisia will need to put points on the board against Belgium in its next game to avoid an early trip home.

"We watched a video of them before the game and we were quite concerned because they looked very strong," said Ali Zitouni, a forward who spent the game on the bench.

"I think that's why we were a bit nervous. But they weren't as strong as we thought.

"Having seen the Belgium vs. Japan game yesterday, I think Russia were the team we had the best chance of beating."

Russian coach Oleg Romantsev acknowledged that his team had looked creaky at the back, especially as the Tunisians pressed hard to get a goal back in the second half.

His Tunisian counterpart agreed that chances had been there for the taking.

"After going down 2-0, it took us some time to regain our exposure, but we did it and even created a few chances," coach Ammar Souayah said.

"We were hoping to exploit spaces on the Russian flanks and there was room for us there to exploit."

Tunisia thought it had found its way back into the game in the 75th minute, when Jaziri went down in the penalty area after a challenge by a Russian defender, but the referee judged that he had dived and gave him a yellow card.

He became the second player in the tournament to be booked for play-acting in the area.

"It was definitely a penalty, I don't know where the referee was looking," Jaziri said.

"We are disappointed because we played only for victory or a draw. But now we just have to concentrate on making the next match better for us."

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