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The Belgian national football team’s coach Roberto Martinez is wary of the threat Tunisia will pose in the FIFA World Cup that is set to start on Thursday.

The North African side is pooled alongside Belgium, England and Panama in Group G.

Ahead of the start of the World Cup, Tunisia played its last friendly game against Spain, losing narrowly by a solitary goal.

“Yesterday, for me, they deserved to win the game… It was just a confirmation that Tunisia could be one of the surprises in the World Cup,” Martinez said.

Many people expect the Eagles of Carthage to be bundled out of the tournament in the group stage, as they fancy England and Belgium to progress.

The Tunisians will however feel buoyed by the fact that they are Africa’s top ranked side in the latest FIFA ranking. The side was placed 21 in the list published last week.

Tunisia will kick-start its World Cup campaign on Monday 18 June against England, before facing Belgium on 23 June. The last group stage game against Panama will be played 28 June.

The Eagles of Carthage are one of five African sides that qualified for the World Cup. They are joined by Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal and Morocco.

No African side has ever reached the semi-final stage.

While most analyses give African sides very little chance of breaking that ceiling in this tournament, the teams have expressed optimism at making that history in Russia.

The opening game of the World Cup will be  played on Thursday, pitting host Russia against Saudi Arabia.