FIFA World Cup 2018: Tunisia coach singles out Dele as England's dangerous man

Dele Alli/AFP

Tunisia coach Nabil Maaloul has singled out England's Dele Alli as his side's most dangerous opponent as he prepared for their World Cup Group G opener at the Volgograd Arena tomorrow. The confident coach, in his second spell as national team boss, said his side could beat England and open the door to progressing from the group stages and to the quarter-finals.

"Why not?" he told reporters ahead of his side's final training session in Volgograd on Sunday. "Our team is ready," he added, referring to recent warm-up results where they drew with Portugal and lost narrowly to Spain. "We played well in friendlies. We did well and we expect to do the same here."

But he stressed that to do well against England, Tunisia had to keep Alli quiet, and confessed he was an admirer of the 22-year-old Tottenham midfielder. "He is a great player," said Maaloul. "He is a midfielder who can play anywhere: centre, forward or deep midfield, up front on his own or wide on the left.

"We know how easily Alli and Kane can find each other and their understanding so must divide them. "The most dangerous thing for me is the way he sees the match and plays the last pass." The Tunisian coach placed England among the favourites to win the World Cup despite their abject record in recent major tournaments.

The Three Lions failed to get out of their group in Brazil in 2014 and were humiliated by Iceland in Euro 2016 in France. "I was in the stadium when they played Iceland," he said. "Now they are a more stronger side. The result is not going to be the same tomorrow. "We have pressure and they have pressure to do well. We are representing Africa and the Arabic world. They are one of the favourites to win the World Cup."

Also Read - FIFA World Cup 2018: Harry Kane And England Are Ready For Tunisia

Catch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Except for the change in headline, the story has been provided "AS-IS," "AS AVAILABLE, without any verification or editing from our side. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever