MUNICH, June 14 -- Tunisia has won only one match in their previous nine World Cup matches. They want to take a second Wednesday night when they meet Saudi Arabia here.

The north Africans won their first World Cup match in 1978, beating Mexico 3-1, but losing all other group matches in 1998 and 2002.

Roger Lemerre was hailed as the saviour of Tunisian football after the Frenchman guided the north African side to a momentous win over Morocco in the final of the 2004 African Cup of Nations, and went to lead them to qualify for the World Cup finals.

Lemerre, who coached France to 2000 European champions, was the only man to win different continental crowns. His aim in Germany is to bring Tunisia to the knockout stage.

"Every country dreams of reaching the second round of the World Cup at least once in their history. That's my dream too," Lemerre said. "The first two group matches will be decisive. After that day we will know where everyone is and what they have to do."

Tunisia's biggest stars are Brazilian-born duo Jose Clayton and Santos, who helped them achieve six wins and three draws in qualifying. Their skipper Riadh Bouazizi is also expected play a very important role. The 32-year-old has won more than 50 caps and is a tough tackler in the heart of midfield.

In seven head-to-heads with Saudi Arabia, Tunisia lead with four wins, one draw and two defeats. Obviously, Saudi Arabia, who suffered a humiliating 8-0 defeat to Germany four years ago, has a lot more to do mentally to beat Tunisia.

In three previous participations, Saudi Arabia have always met an African team at the group stage: in 1994, they defeated Morocco 2-1; in 1998, they drew 2-2 with South Africa; in 2002, they were defeated 0-1 by Cameroon.

The Asian side are currently on a negative run of seven FIFA World Cup matches without a win and conceding at least one goal per game (one draw, six defeats) since defeating Belgium 1-0 in Washington DC in 1994, when they sensationally went on to qualify for the round of sixteen.

"First of all we have to overcome the humiliation during the 2002 World Cup," said Hamad al-Montashari, Asia's player of the year. "Secondly we will be looking forward to getting three points against Tunisia in order to have a chance of qualifying for the second round."

Brazilian Marcos Paqueta, the Saudis' 16th coach in 12 years, said the tragedy four years ago will never take place again.

"We don't want to make the same mistakes as in 2002," Paqueta said.