Tunisia's coach joins an unwanted list of World Cup sackings

ATLANTA, June 16 : Sabri Lamouchi’s dismissal as Tunisia coach after a single game at the World Cup places him on an ignominious list that includes one of the most successful coaches in tournament history.

Former France international Lamouchi was sacked on Monday after Tunisia were hammered 5-1 by Sweden in their opening game. 

He had only been appointed in January, replacing Sami Trabelsi, who was unceremoniously fired after the North African country’s elimination at the last-16 stage of the Africa Cup finals in Morocco.

Tunisia also fired Henryk Kasperczak two matches into the 1998 World Cup in France, after losing to England and Colombia. Ali Selmi took charge of their last game, where they held Romania to a 1-1 draw in Paris.

At the same tournament in 1998, Carlos Alberto Parreira was fired by Saudi Arabia and Cha Bum-kun by South Korea.

Brazilian Parreira also sits on the most illustrious lists of World Cup achievements. He holds the record for coaching at the most World Cups and only four years before the Saudis sent him packing after two games at the 1998 finals, he had led Brazil to the title in the 1994 tournament in the United States.

LAME DUCK AFTER PLAYER MUTINY

In 1954, Scotland’s manager Andy Beattie resigned after their opening match of the tournament in Switzerland, where they lost to Austria, while France coach Raymond Domenech effectively played no part in his team’s final game at the 2010 finals, where they lost to South Africa in Bloemfontein. 

It had been preceded by a player mutiny that left Domenech a lame duck on the touchline.

Ahead of the 2018 finals in Russia, Spain fired Julen Lopetegui some 48 hours before their opening game when it emerged he had negotiated to take over at Real Madrid after the