Tunisia Deserve a Win Over Panama to Close Their World Cup

Tunisia vs. Panama, 2 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

• Tunisia -116
• Panama +355
• Draw +274

Bet to Watch:

Tunisia -116

It's the ultimate consolation match. Both Tunisia and Panama were eliminated with losses to England and Belgium. The fact that England and Belgium were so much stronger than these two sides served to obscure that fact that Tunisia is also significantly stronger than Panama.

Panama had their moment with a goal against England to cut the score to 6-1 and reward the small country for being game if extremely overmatched. Tunisia on the other hand played a raucous, wide-open affair with the much more talented Belgium losing, 5-2, while before that almost holding England to a tense draw before conceding in injury time to lose 2-1. Tunisia showed that they can attack when needed — even if not nearly enough to beat Belgium –and defend when called upon, even if they failed to hold England.

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Tunisia is a good team, and in a different group, they might have caused trouble for some of the teams that are moving on to the knockout stages. They'll be able to seize their moment against a poor Panama side and showcase what they can do, even if it's too late for them this time around.

There are only bragging rights on the line, but Tunisia deserve them, and deserve to have their own World Cup moment before they head on home. A Panama side that hasn't shown either the ability to defend against onslaughts of better teams or counterpunch in any meaningful way is unlikely to stand in their way.