Tunisia hold Brazil to friendly draw in World Cup build-up

Tunisia held Brazil to a hard-fought 1-1 friendly draw in Lille on Tuesday as part of their build-up to the 2026 World Cup.

Tunisia took a surprise lead midway through the first half when Ali Abdi's brilliant pass found Hazem Mastouri and the Dynamo Makhachkala striker kept his composure to slip the ball beyond onrushing Brazil goalkeeper Bento.

But Brazil were awarded a penalty by VAR for handball shortly before half-time, much to the disappointment of the thousands of Tunisian fans at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

In-form Brazilian 18-year-old Estevao scored the penalty, but Lucas Paqueta squandered an opportunity to win the game for the Selecao from another penalty.

The five-time world champions are heading into next year's tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada under a bit of a cloud after only finishing fifth in South American qualifying.

They also slipped to a 3-2 friendly loss to Japan last month, but Ancelotti is confident his team will improve before the tournament.

"Tunisia have different characteristics - they defend with a very deep block. It's much more difficult to find openings in this type of defence," Ancelotti told reporters.

Brazil coach Ancelotti named a strong side, including four forwards - Matheus Cunha, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes and Estevao - in his starting XI.

Senegal thrashes Kenya

Elsewhere in international friendlies, Sadio Mane scored a first-half hat-trick as Senegal thrashed Kenya 8-0, while African champions the Ivory Coast bounced back from a loss to Saudi Arabia with a 2-0 win over Oman.

The Saudis were beaten 2-0 at home by Algeria, with Riyad Mahrez on the scoresheet, as 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Morocco ran out 4-0 winners over Uganda.