Tunisia picked up a morale-boosting 1-0 World Cup qualifying first-leg playoff win over Mali on Friday in Bamako.
The West Africans were reduced to 10 men just after going down a goal late in the first half when Moussa Sissoko was sent off.
Tunisia kept Mali under siege in the opening minutes of the game, but the hosts were lucky not to concede then.
In the 12th minute, Naim Sliti and Aissa Laidouni opened up the Mali midfield with ease, but goalkeeper Ibrahim Mounkoro saved the hosts from going down with a swift left-hand side dive.
In the 17th minute, Traore stood in Youssef Msakni’s path and consequently denied the Tunisian enough space to shoot after he had entered the penalty box from the left wing.
Mali went down in the 36th minute when Sissoko scored a strange own goal and six minutes after that incident he was red-carded.
Mali made three changes in the 46th minute when they introduced Ibrahima Kone for Adama Traore, Mamadou in place of Abdoulaye Doucoure, and Nene Dorgeles was replaced by Moussa Djenepo.
As the second half began, Mali were unlucky not to concede more goals as they kept losing the ball in dangerous positions. On two occasions, Sliti and Mohamed Romdhane dispossessed the Malians, but the Tunisians could not find the target with their subsequent shots.
Nader Ghandri was yellow-carded in the 53rd minute when he brought down Abdoulay Diaby as Mali broke through on a counter-attack after they had cleared a corner. Ghandri was the second Tunisian to be booked after Seifeddine Jaziri had been cautioned in the 48th minute.
Mali could not take advantage of a freekick they won in the 55th minute just at the edge of the box after Kone was brought down by Laidouni. Tunisia cleared the delivered set-piece and forced the hosts to go back to the drawing board and devise a strategy to unlock an otherwise impervious defence by the North Africans.
In the 85th minute, Carthage Eagles threw Ben Ouannes and Ben Slimane into action as they came on for Sliti and Msakni, respectively. Boubakar Kouyate of Mali became the third player to be booked in the match when he received a yellow card in the second minute of added time.
