2026 World Cup: Tunisia become first African team to be knocked out after Japan disgrace in 1,000th match

The Carthage Eagles of Tunisia have become the first African team to be eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup after an embarrassing 4-0 loss to Japan in their second Group Stage fixture.

The 2004 African champions have now shipped in nine goals in just two matches at the World Cup after their opening day 5-1 loss to Sweden, officially condemning them to a last-place finish in Group F.

Japan produced a dominant display to defeat Tunisia 4-0 at the Monterrey Stadium, moving level with the Netherlands on four points at the top of Group F.

The Asian giants took the lead after just four minutes when Daichi Kamada finished from close range following excellent build-up play involving Ao Tanaka and Keito Nakamura.

Japan continued to pile on the pressure and came close to extending their advantage on several occasions, only to be denied by desperate defending and a series of saves from goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen.

Their second goal eventually arrived in the 31st minute as Ayase Ueda capitalised on hesitant Tunisian defending before firing a low strike into the bottom corner.

Japan remained in complete control after the break and added a third through Junya Ito, who calmly finished after racing onto a superb through ball in the 69th minute.

Ueda completed the scoring seven minutes from time with a looping header to seal a convincing 4-0 victory.

The result marked a disappointing debut for new Tunisia manager Hervé Renard, who recently replaced Sabri Lamouchi. Having also suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat to Sweden in their opening game, Tunisia are now mathematically eliminated from the World Cup and unable to reach the knockout stages.