Tunisia crash out of World Cup after devastating defeat to Japan

RIYADH: The 1,000th match in FIFA World Cup history — at Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe, Monterrey — brought Tunisia and Japan together in a meeting that carried major consequences for both teams.

Japan needed a convincing victory to keep pace with the Netherlands, who had thrashed Sweden 5-1 earlier in the day. For Tunisia, defeat would bring their hopes of reaching the Round of 32 to an end.

Unfortunately for the Eagles of Carthage, Japan cruised to a 4-0 victory behind a starring display from striker Ayase Ueda, who scored twice and created another goal. Tunisia, meanwhile, bowed out of knockout-stage contention in disappointing fashion, managing just two shots during the 90 minutes.

This was Tunisia’s first match under Herve Renard, who was swiftly brought in to replace Sabri Lamouchi after their 5-1 defeat to Sweden in their opening game.

Renard made three changes to the starting line-up. Mouhib Chamakh in goal replaced by Aymen Dahmen after the former’s lackluster showing against Sweden. The other two changes relegated Rani Khedira and Mohamed Amine Ben Hmida relegated to the bench, with Dylan Bronn and Sebastian Tounekti taking their places.

Tunisia’s approach, however, differed only slightly from their previous outing. The back five remained, but Tounekti led the line as a lone striker, while Hannibal Mejbri and Elias Saad occupied the wide positions.

A brave curling effort from Hannibal whistled over the bar set the tone as early as the third minute, but it was Tunisia’s only sight of goal for the remainder of the first half.

Just a minute later, they found themselves behind. A quick Japanese attack found Ao Tanaka between the lines, with the midfielder releasing Keito Nakamura near the byline before a low