Tunisia midfielder Hamed Namouchi is confident his team will bounce back from their painful 3-1 defeat against Spain.

The North Africans led for 70 minutes before Spain hit back to earn qualification to the knock-out stages of the World Cup.

"I don't think the score reflects what we have done on the pitch," Namouchi said. "We have played well and we certainly made Spain sweat for most of the game.

"Perhaps we lost some focus in the second half."

And the Rangers midfielder believes Brazilian referee Carlos Simon made life difficult for his side, with Tunisia having six players booked while Spain only had two cautioned.

"I think the referee was harsh with us, particularly in the second half," he said. "But then we know that they tend to show favouritism for the bigger teams."

Having snatched a 2-2 draw in their opening game against Saudi Arabia, Tunisia must now beat Ukraine in their last Group H game to advance for the first time in their history to the knock-out stages.

Ukraine bounced back from their 4-0 humiliation by Spain when they hammered Saudi Arabia 4-0 earlier on Monday.

But Namouchi is certain his team will recover in time for their clash in Berlin on June 23.

"This defeat will not demoralise us," he said. "We still have a chance to go through and we will try and make the most of it.

"We know that Ukraine are a strong team, we knew that even after their upset to Spain.

"But it's one game and anything can happen. We have already proven against a very good side like Spain that we can play at their level and make them work hard.

"I guess if the Ukrainians were able to recover from their opening defeat so can we.

"Ukraine may have (Andriy) Shevchenko, who is a fantastic striker, but our main strength is the team."