Tunisia upset champions France after late VAR drama but fail to qualify for knockouts

Tunisia stunned France with a shock 1-0 win, but their hopes of reaching the last 16 of the World Cup were ended by Australia's own unlikely victory against Denmark elsewhere in Group D.

The Eagles of Carthage fought tooth and nail to keep their hopes of advancing alive and put in a solid display against the rotated reigning champions, but their 2022 journey has come to an end at the benefit of the Socceroos.

Tunisia took a deserved lead when Fofana lost possession too easily again, and Laidouni found Khazri to weave his way past the French backline and poke a shot past the flailing Mandanda.

France looked like a team thrown together for the most part.

With the clock running down, France finally showed signs of life with substitute Kylian Mbappe forcing a save from Aymen Dahmen and Randal Kolo Muani blasting wide at the end of Les Bleus' only real sweeping move of the afternoon.

Tunisia nearly clung on through eight minutes of stoppage time before Antoine Griezmann's deflected volley found the back of Dahmen's net with essentially the last kick of the game, only for it to be ruled out by a lengthy VAR check.

Tunisia thought they took an eighth-minute lead when a Wahbi Khazri free-kick was flicked on and in by Nader Ghandri, but the linesman had his flag raised for a marginal offside and the goal was chalked off.

Khazri was behind most of Tunisia's best moments and he almost helped conjure up the opener after eight minutes. His vicious, inswinging free-kick eluded the France defence and was turned in by Nader Ghandri only for his effort to be ruled out by an offside flag.

Khazri came close himself 10 minutes before the break, forcing goalkeeper Steve Mandanda to palm his long-range shot to safety.

In between, Randal Kolo Muani played in Kingsley Coman but his first touch was poor, leading him to slice his shot wide.

Khazri's next significant involvement resulted in the opening goal. The Montpellier man, who has spent the bulk of his career playing in France, picked the ball up 40 yards from goal and slalomed his way through the France defence before slotting past Mandanda.

However, Australia's win had already been confirmed by this point and the Eagles of Carthage's fate was already sealed.

France were already guaranteed a place in the last 16 and that was reflected in Didier Deschamps' starting XI, Les Bleus' boss making nine changes from the team that beat the Danes on Saturday.