What a group. While England's supporters fight with the French police, the Romanian players have been embroiled in a battle with their own media. Colombia's best player has gone home and their manager announced his intention to resign after the tournament (he described bringing the team to the finals as "hell"). The Tunisian press have been encouraging their own coach, Henri Kasperczak, to follow suit.
He'll probably have to if his side don't turn in a far better performance against the Colombians this afternoon, although looking at the material he has to work with last Monday it's difficult to see where the improvement is going to come from.
The Pole is expected to make a couple of changes to the team beaten by England, with Zoubele Baya coming into midfield, probably at the expense of Kaies Godbhane, and Imed Ben Younes likely to replace the disappointing Mehdi Ben Slimane up front. Central defender Adel Sellimi is also ruled out by a thigh strain.
"Colombian football is very technical, based on great flair. But they are very inconsistent in their results," Kasperczak said yesterday. "Certainly they may miss Asprilla up front. But then maybe the squad is more united now that he has gone."
Tunisia's hopes were hit yesterday by a bad leg injury to libero Khaled Badra which has sidelined him for the rest of the tournament. He will be replaced by Ferid Chouchane.
Brazilian-born left-back Jose Clayton, granted citizenship just in time for the World Cup after playing in Tunisia for four years, said he had the greatest respect for Colombia, especially Rincon. "I know them very well. They have an excellent first touch and turn their man very well. They are very like Brazilians," he said. "We're going to have to be very, very careful."
The Colombians will also look for a new formula after a dismal showing against Romania and the loss of Faustino Asprilla. Matters have been helped by the fact that while most players in the squad thought that their striker's grovelling apology - after off-the-record comments made to a journalist were broadcast back home - should have earned him a reprieve, prominent midfielder Carlos Valderrama pressed for him to be excluded regardless.
That may not be entirely unconnected with the fact that poor displays by the 36-year-old and his midfield partner Freddy Rincon in the opening game topped the list of Asprilla's complaints.
In the absence of the gifted striker things will be considerably more difficult for coach Hernan Dario Gomez who is expected to draft in Anthony De Avila for Asprilla and a second striker, Adolfo Valencia, for Victor Aristizabal, who played between the midfield and Asprilla against the Romanians.
Possible Teams Colombia: Mondragon, Cabrera, Bermudez, Palacious, Santa, Serna, Lozano, Rincon, Valderrama, Valencia, De Avila.
Tunisia: El Ouaer, H Trabelsi, S Trabelsi, Chouchene, Boukadida, Clayton, Baya, Souayah, Chihi, Ben Younes, Sellimi.
Referee: B Heynemann (Germany).
