MUNICH, Germany – Tunisia made sure the first round of the World Cup wasn’t a total loss for Africa.

Rahdi Jaidi’s powerful header in injury time gave Tunisia a 2-2 tie with Saudi Arabia in a Group H game that was also the only all-Arab match of the tournament.

It was the first point earned by one of five African teams at this tournament. Ivory Coast, Angola, Ghana and Togo all lost their opening games.

“Our objective is to be able to go into the last match without having lost all hope, so that we still have something to fight for,” Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre said. “It’s a point won.”

It almost wasn’t.

Sami al-Jaber gave the Saudis a 2-1 lead in the 84th when he finished off a 2-on-1 break. Al-Jaber, who retired from the national team, then was brought back for qualifying, had entered the game moments before. He has played in four World Cups and now has goals in three after scoring on his first touch of the game.

Saudi Arabia coach Marcos Paqueta had left al-Jaber on the bench because the veteran was struggling with a thigh problem. But the 34-year-old showed his class at the first opportunity.

“The entry of (al-Jaber), a very experienced player, was important,” Lemerre said.

The game was a scrappy affair and Lemerre said his players lacked poise as well as fitness, suggesting neither team will go far in the tournament. Saudi Arabia reached the second round only once, in the United States in 1994, while Tunisia has never gotten out of group play.

Tunisia plays Spain on Monday, the same day Saudi Arabia plays Ukraine. Spain beat Ukraine 4-0 Wednesday.

Al-Jaber’s late goal almost allowed the Saudis to emphatically erase recent World Cup embarrassment.

Four years after an 8-0 humiliation against Germany in their opening game, goals from Yasser al-Qahtani and the veteran al-Jaber put the Saudis in position for a victory – and a bonus of $27,000 per player.

Then Tunisia struck for the tie. Jaidi, a hulking defender, pushed up and was unmarked in front of the middle of the goal to head in Ziad Jaziri’s pinpoint pass.

Each team has one point, behind Group H favorite Spain, which routed Ukraine 4-0 earlier Wednesday.

The Tunisians took the lead in the 23rd minute, when the Saudi defense failed to clear a corner kick and Jaziri thumped the ball hard and high into the top-left corner of the Saudi net.

“They weren’t defensive mistakes,” Paqueta said. “They were just two good Tunisian goals.”

Saudi Arabia slowly recovered its poise, with midfielder Nawaf al-Temyat at the center of increasingly dangerous moves.

It earned a string of free kicks and corners, and Tunisia’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel, the oldest player in the tournament, had to dive sharply to hold a dangerous free kick by Redha Takar in the 37th minute.

The pressure paid off in the 57th at the end of a smooth passing move. Noor Mohammed got behind Tunisia’s David Jemmali down the right side and crossed low and hard for al-Qahtani to clip the ball past Boumnijel at the near post.

Saudi players, who had prayed together on the turf after taking the lead, walked off the field exchanging sharp words after the victory slipped away.

AP-ES-06-14-06 1922EDT