Tunisia
The World Cup could not have got off to a worse start for Tunisia as they lost their opening group fixture 5-1 against Sweden. This prompted the Tunisian FA to immediately sack Sabri Lamouchi, a man who himself had only been in the position since January 2026 and been in charge for 5 matches.
Mondher Kebaier was thought to be the man to guide them through the World Cup campaign but they went with the experienced Frenchman Herve Renard, a man with great knowledge of African football and now managing at a third consecutive World Cup having taken charge of Morocco (2018) and Saudi Arabia (2022).
This will be a tough ask to get Tunisia out of the groups stages but it was Renard who was in charge of Saudi Arabia four years ago when they famously defeated Argentina 2-1 so optimism will remain.
Currently ranked in a lowly 55th in the FIFA World Rankings they will have to improve a run of just one win in the last eight (D2 L5)
Injuries & Team News
The sacking of Lamouchi and appointment of Renard does me we could see a change in formation but both managers do have a conservative style of football so we should’t suddenly expect some “heavy metal football”
Ali Abdi played quite high up for the Tunisians against the Swedes but, naturally a full-back, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him drop deeper for Tunisia to play a back three, which has often been the preference of Renard.
Form
| Last Match | Last 6 Matches |
|---|---|
| 1-5 vs Sweden | L W D L L L |
Predicted Line-Up
Tunisia (3-5-1-1):
Chamakh; Rekik, Talbi, Ben Hamida; Valery, Khedira, Skhiri, Mejbri, Abdi; Ben Slimane; Saad
Japan
Japan are many pundits dark-horses for the 2026 World Cup and they enhanced that opinion in their opening game with Netherlands when they secured a 2-2 draw in Group F
In what turned out to be an entertaining game it came to life in the second half with the Dutch twice taking the lead through Virgil Van Dijk & Crysensio Summerville only to be pegged back on both occasions through Keito Nakamura and an 89th minute headed equaliser from Daichi Kamada.
Hajime Moriyasu was pleased with his sides performance but the long time Japanese coach will be dissappointed it brought an end to a six match winning run for the “Samurai Blue”
Japan will be hugely confident of qualifying for the round of 32 and victory here would al but confirm that ahead of facing Sweden in their final Group fixture.
They have an impressive record head-to-head with Tunisia winning five of the previous six meetings between the nations, most recently a 2-0 friendly success in Kobe in 2023.
Injuries & Team News
Before the Tournament the worry was how they would replace the injured trio of Kaoru Mitomo, Wataru Endo and Takumi Minamino but they managed that easily against the dutch but they were dealt another blow with Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo ruled out for 3 weeks and potentially the rest of the World Cup.
Moriyasu is unlikely to move away from his favoured back three.
The Injury to Kubo could open the door for Yuito Suzuki who has enjoyed a really good season for Freiburg in the Bundesliga, however if Moriyasu goes like for like it will be Junya Ito who gets the start.
Form
| Last Match | Last 6 Matches |
|---|---|
| 2-2 vs Netherlands | W W W W W D |
Predicted Line-Up
Japan (3-4-3):
Z. Suzuki; Watanabe, Taniguchi, H. Ito; Doan, Sano, Kamada, Nakamura; J. Ito, Ueda, Maeda
Betting Odds
| Team | Odds | Bookmaker |
|---|---|---|
| Tunisia Win | 6/1 (7.00) | Grand Ivy |
| Draw | 31/10 (4.10) | Dream Vegas |
| Japan Win | 61/100 (1.60) | 247Bet |
Prediction
Tunisia 0-2 Japan
Tunisia were woeful against Sweden but they will not be such an easy touch against the Japanese but the Asians will have too much quality come the full time whistle.