African contingents Esperance de Tunis kept their hopes of qualifying for FIFA Club World Cup knockouts alive with a narrow 1-0 win over MLS side Los Angeles, MySportDab reports.
Having lost the opening fixture to Flamengo, the African giants needed all three points to stand a chance of making it to the knockouts.
Los Angeles also came into the match off the back an opening loss to Chelsea and needed victory as well to boost their slender hopes of qualifying for the next round.
With a lot at stake for the two sides, it was no surprise the game took on a frantic and dramatic pace from the start.
Los Angeles were the better side, welding over 60% of the ball possession and completing more passes. However, they were found wanting in the attack, managing just two shot on target in their 10 attempts.
Esperance gave a good account of themselves with a solid defensive display enough to frustrate the hosts while proving menacing on their attacking forays. They had the same number of shots as their opponents, but had three more on target than them.
Meanwhile, the first half ended barren as both sides couldn’t find the back of the net with Los Angeles being the better side.
In the second half, Algerian forward Youcef Belaili scored to finally separate the tie. The 70th-minute strike proved crucial for the African giants but they had to survive a late penalty scare in the final minutes to secure victory.
Los Angeles won the penalty in 90+11th minute and Dennis Bouanga couldn’t beat Esperance’s goalkeeper, missing the golden chance to equalise for the MLS side.
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