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Tunisia take on Japan in Group F at the 2026 World Cup, in Monterrey today.
Head coach Herve Renard steps in, after Tunisia fired Sabri Lamouchi following their opening 5-1 defeat by Sweden.
Japan can all but seal a spot in the round of 32 with a victory.
So, Herve Renard has made three changes for his first XI as Tunisia manager — with the biggest one bringing in goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen for Mouhib Chamakh, who conceded five against Sweden.
Celtic’s Sebastian Tounekti and Dylan Bronn are also in and once again it will be five at the back.
Very much a ‘back to basics’ feel to the line-up today.
Japan’s four changes include two swaps to the back three that perhaps reflect head coach Hajime Moriyasu felt they were too defensively vulnerable in their opener: a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands.
Captain Hiroki Ito of Bayern Munich and Takehiro Tomiyasu, once of Arsenal, replace 34-year-old Shogo Taniguchi and Tsuyoshi Watanabe in defence.
Both attacking midfielders who started against the Dutch drop out too: the largely quiet Daizen Maeda onto the bench and Takefusa Kubo out injured alongside Shuto Machino.
Incoming winger Junya Ito, 33, is no relation to Hiroki, and the inclusion of central midfielder Ao Tanaka of Leeds will mean, I suspect, that Daichi Kamada moves into a No 10 slot.
It may also be a shift to a 3-5-2 shape with Junya Ito alongside striker Ayase Ueda though, in front of a midfield three.
As for Japan, the shape is likely to repeat the 3-4-3 they played against Netherlands and this one will be as proactive as the graphic makes it look.
However, whether the front three really involves Junya Ito and Ao Tanaka — or Kaishu Sano as FIFA suggests, or someone else — remains to be seen.
Either way, there will be rotations and Japan should be pretty fluid in their positions regardless.
We’ve got a bit of pre-match guess work with both starting formations today.
This is how we expect Tunisia to line up, with Norwich City’s Anis Ben Slimane the focal point at the top of a 5-4-1 shape that probably won’t be as expansive as this Opta graphic makes it look.
However, FIFA’s tactical line-up has more of a 5-3-2 shape with Saad and Tounekti as a striker pairing and Slimane, Skhiri and Mebjri making up a midfield three behind them.
So we’ll have to see what Herve Renard has up his sleeve come kick-off.
Japan’s 2-2 comeback against the Netherlands told us plenty.
Twice behind, twice they levelled — Keito Nakamura’s deflected strike and Daichi Kamada’s late header rescuing a point — defending from a disciplined 5-4-1 low block with wing-backs jumping to track runners, before striking in transition.
Substitute Junya Ito’s pace transformed the closing stages. And they did it all without the injured Kaoru Mitoma, their finest wide threat who is missing this tournament through injury.
The creative load now falls to Takefusa Kubo with Ritsu Doan — scorer against both Germany and Spain in 2022 — the kind of match-changer few sides can summon off the bench. Doan starts today.
Keisuke Honda, who is commentating for Japanese broadcaster NHK, just arrived in the press box in sunglasses and with his signature bleach blonde hair, causing a stir among some of the journalists.
It’s fair to say the former Japan international looks as cool as ever.
And here is who Hajime Moriyasu has gone for as Japan’s starting XI to find that first win of this World Cup.
Japan (3-4-2-1): Suzuki (GK); Tomiyasu, Itakura (c), Hiroki Ito; Doan, Sano, Kamada, Nakamura; Junya Ito, Tanaka; Ueda.
Four changes to the team from Moriyasu feels quite a lot.
Here we go. This is Herve Renard’s first Tunisia XI since being parachuted into the head coach position.
Tunisia (5-4-1): Dahmen (GK); Valery, Rekik, Talbi, Bronn, Abdi; Saad, Skhiri (c), Mejbri, Tounekti; Slimane.
That is three changes from the XI smashed by Sweden, including in goal.
Hello and welcome once again to our coverage of Tunisia vs Japan — where one side will be expected to fly, and another already has its backs against the wall.
We’ll have the official team news with you next before continuing our build-up to kick-off.
Don’t go anywhere.
Big cheers in the stadium as Hajime Moriyasu and his squad are shown on the big screens arriving at the stadium. Think we’ll see a pretty partisan crowd here.
Poor Tunisia.
I’ve never seen weather like it in Monterrey yesterday. In the morning, temperatures were approaching 40 degrees Celsius (104F). By the afternoon, huge thunderstorms had flooded some streets and Japan trained with lightning strikes happening in the distance.
Today has been pretty regular by comparison, which organisers will be delighted about — the 10pm kick-off time here will probably help with the heat too.
Good news from inside Estadio BBVA too. My press seats are getting closer and closer to the money shot — that view of the Cerro de la Silla mountain.
There were orderly but long queues outside once again, as I was getting into the stadium about an hour ago. So that was with two and a half hours to go until kick-off.
Lots of love for Japan from the locals. Have seen very few Tunisia supporters at all today.
A World Cup meeting of cultures in Monterrey here at an event organised between the local club’s ultras and Japan’s — with a big crowd of Japan fans currently enjoying music by a regional band.
All ahead of the game.
This match shapes up as Japanese patience against Tunisian nerve.
Tunisia conceded five and looked desperately disorganised at the back against Sweden — an alarming precursor to facing a Japan side that thrives in transition and carries real quality in the final third.
New man Herve Renard is a renowned organiser and galvaniser, and Tunisia’s hope rests on him tightening things fast; weathering the early storm and releasing attacking midfielder Hannibal Mejbri on the break.
Still, he has had little time to repair a leaking defence and Japan will happily pick at it today.
Out of work since Saudi Arabia sacked him in April, Herve Renard arrives on a World Cup reprieve — handed the job until the end of the tournament, with talk of a longer stay to follow.
And what a CV he carries: two Africa Cup of Nations crowns (Zambia in 2012, Ivory Coast in 2015), managing Morocco at the 2018 World Cup, a quarter-final run with France’s women at the 2023 World Cup and most famously, the mastermind of Saudi Arabia’s stunning defeat of Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the opening match of Qatar 2022.
As the line goes, it wouldn’t be a World Cup without Herve Renard and his trademark white shirt.
This time, he has had mere days to haul a shell-shocked Tunisia off the canvas.
GO FURTHER
Tunisia appoint Herve Renard as new head coach after firing Sabri Lamouchi
For all their progress, one barrier still confronts Japan: the quarter-finals. The Samurai Blue have reached the last 16 on four occasions and fallen there every time.
Yet this is billed as their strongest generation — a side that has beaten Germany, Spain, Brazil and England, 1-0 at Wembley in March.
They were also the first nation of all 48 to book their place at this World Cup, their eighth in succession.
For once, expectation back home points beyond the round of 16, and Hajime Moriyasu’s men will rarely get a better chance to build towards it.
The day before kick-off, Sabri Lamouchi spoke of living in the moment:
💬 “I will try not to complain … just enjoy the present.”
It didn’t last.
Barely 48 hours and five goals later, the 5-1 thrashing by Sweden had cost him his job — making Lamouchi the first head coach sacked a single game into a World Cup. It had also been his first competitive game in charge.
The warning signs had been flashing — one win in five months at the helm, a 5-0 friendly battering by Belgium — and the reckoning was brutal.
Defender Omar Rekik apologised to the nation, while one supporter’s verdict to The Athletic was simply:
💬 “No tactics, no structure and no identity — just chaos.”
GO FURTHER
Sabri Lamouchi and the unwanted record of being the first manager sacked after one World Cup game
The home to one of Mexico’s biggest football rivalries — between Tigres UANL and CF Monterrey — is a perfect place for World Cup fixtures.
The stadium — Estadio BBVA — is perfect for it too. It seats 51,000 fans and its backdrop is among the most stunning stadium visuals around the world.
And a fun fact courtesy of The Athletic writer Felipe Cardenas: Monterrey locals are referred to as regios, or regals.
For FIFA purposes, the ground is officially called Estadio Monterrey for the duration of the tournament.
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