Tunisia must cut out mistakes after Sweden thrashing, says Lamouchi

MONTERREY, Mexico June 14 : Tunisia coach Sabri Lamouchi said his side had been punished for a string of costly mistakes in Sunday's 5-1 defeat by Sweden, and warned that such errors could prove fatal for their chances at the World Cup.

• "It's a difficult loss. It's painful. Starting the competition with this bad of a loss is indeed difficult," Lamouchi told the post-match news conference.

• Lamouchi said Tunisia knew the threat posed by Sweden's forwards but failed to cope with it. "With world-class players that we have in the two Swedish forwards, it's something that you don't recover from."

• He repeatedly pointed to individual errors as the main reason for the heavy defeat. "We made way too many mistakes," he said.

• Lamouchi said he felt Tunisia had shown signs of improvement after the break before further mistakes derailed their comeback hopes.

• Tunisia will face Japan and the Netherlands in their coming Group F fixtures, and Lamouchi said his team had little choice but to respond. "We have our pride. We need to react. We need to give a better image."