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Soccer success offers Tunisians respite from country’s problems

Soccer fans in Tunisia have been reveling in their national team’s qualification for the FIFA World Cup after missing two consecutive tournaments.
Soccer Football - 2018 World Cup Qualifications - Africa - Tunisia  vs Libya - Rades Olympic stadium - Tunis, Tunisia -  November 11, 2017 Tunisia's players celebrate qualifying for the World Cup.  REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi - RC1AB2B62AA0

Five minutes of extra time might not seem like much for a soccer match, but it felt like an eternity during Tunisia’s last match against Libya in the 2018 FIFA World Cup African qualifiers.

On Nov. 11, fans of the Carthage Eagles, dressed in the red and white of the Tunisian flag, knew that the slightest mistake, the slightest lapse in defense, would stop their team from reaching the World Cup for the third time in a row. The Eagles only needed a tie to advance and complete the team's resurgence since the overthrow of the country’s longtime dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in 2011.

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