Tunisia fires football manager ahead of Oranje group stage World Cup match

Tunisia has sacked its national coach, Sabri Lamouchi, following the 5-1 defeat against Sweden, the Tunisian Football Federation (FTF) reported. Lambouchi is being replaced by Hervé Renard, who was the national coach of Saudi Arabia until a few months ago. Oranje is playing Tunisia at 1:00 a.m. on June 26, Dutch time.

Rumors were already circulating on Monday that Lamouchi would have to leave his position as national coach. Tunisia is in Group F with the Netherlands, Sweden, and Japan in the World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Sweden, which narrowly managed to qualify for the World Cup, defeated Tunisia in Monterrey by 5-1. The Scandinavians opened the scoring as early as the seventh minute. Yasin Ayari found the net from a long distance: 1-0. Liverpool attacker Alexander Isak doubled the lead after half an hour of play. He shot the ball past the blundering Tunisian goalkeeper Abdelmouhib Chamakh (2-0).

Tunisia’s only goal was scored by Omar Rekik, who was born in the Netherlands and played in the youth academies of Feyenoord, Manchester City, and PSV. He headed Tunisia to 2-1 shortly before halftime.

Tunisia assisted Sweden with the third goal. Following a mistake in the build-up, Isak dispossessed Ellyes Skhiri and enabled Arsenal striker Viktor Gyökeres to score in the 59th minute (3-1). Substitute Mattias Svanberg made it 4-1 in the 84th minute, after which Ayari set the final score with his second goal.

Afterward, defender Victor Lindelöf spoke of a “perfect match” for the Swedish team. “Both with and without the ball. I am very satisfied with what we showed. It is a great start to the tournament, especially because it is a major World Cup.”

National coach Graham Potter was also positive. “It is fantastic. We put in a great and solid performance with five goals. We could have scored even more. All praise to the players; they were fantastic. There is room for improvement, but now we are going to just enjoy it. After that, we will recover and prepare again.”

In preparation for the World Cup, Tunisia also suffered friendly defeats against Austria (1-0) and Belgium (5-0). Lamouchi, a former French international, had been the national team coach since the beginning of this year, but appears to have already lost his last bit of credibility. Renard, also French, was fired by Saudi Arabia two months ago.

Tunisia is the Netherlands’ final opponent in the group stage on June 25, 1:00 a.m. June 26, Dutch time. The North African country plays against Japan on Sunday.

Sweden is the next opponent for the Dutch national team on Sunday.