EMBARRASSING: Herve Renard fails as Japan brutally end Tunisia’s World Cup dreams

The more things change, the more they remain the same. This saying bests describes the Pulse of the Day after Tunisia were eliminated from the 2026 world cup.

When the Eagles of Carthage sacked their former coach, Sabri Lamouchi,  following that 5-1 defeat to Sweden in their opener and replaced him with the famous Renard, who engineered that famous Saudi Arabia win against Argentina four years ago, the North Africans hoped he would work his magic.

However, in the early hours of Sunday morning, Tunisia did not only suffer another heavy defeat following a 4-0 thrashing by Japan, in what was the historic 1000th game in FIFA World Cup history,  but said goodbye to the World Cup with a game to spare. 

The match in Guadalupe, Mexico, saw the Asians run riot, inspired by centre forward Ayase Ueda, who grabbed a brace and also assisted another goal for the Blue Samurais. 

The win kept Japan’s World Cup hopes alive as they joined leaders the Netherlands, who defeated Sweden 5-1 in the earlier group game, on four points each. 

The result sums up what has been a chaotic outing from Tunisia, who qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with an incredible record. 

In Africa, the Carthage Eagles finished unbeaten without conceding a goal, but have now conceded nine (9) in just two matches under two different coaches.