Tunisia became the third team to exit the 2026 FIFA World Cup as they went down 4-0 to Japan at Estadio Monterrey in their second Group F game.
Herve Renard could not inspire Tunisia to a positive result as Japan cruised to a 4-0 victory at Estadio Monterrey, where Ayase Ueda was on top form.
Tunisia became the first team in men’s World Cup history to change coach after just one matchday, when they sacked Sabri Lamouchi following a 5-1 loss to Sweden.
Yet Renard, who coached Morocco at the 2018 World Cup and Saudi Arabia four years later, did not have the desired impact as Tunisia crashed out with another heavy defeat.
Tunisia’s defence was rock-solid through qualifying, yet they have now shipped 14 goals across their last three matches.
In the 1,000th match in World Cup history, Japan got the ball rolling inside four minutes. Keito Nakamura brilliantly got to the byline and cut in a low centre from which Daichi Kamada tucked home, netting his nation’s quickest goal in the tournament (3:27).
Aymen Dahmen, who replaced Abdelmouhib Chamakh in the Tunisia goal, made a fantastic stop to deny Ueda, but Japan had their second when the Feyenoord forward brilliantly picked out the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box.
Ueda turned from scorer to provider with a deft flick on in the 69th minute – Junya Ito rushing through to slot beyond Dahmen following a move that started at the other end of the pitch with Japanese goalkeeper Zion Suzuki 28 seconds earlier.
And Ueda rounded off an emphatic victory late on with a fine, looping header from Kaishu Sano’s cross.
Tunisia join Haiti and Türkiye in exiting the tournament after two matches, while Japan are second in Group F heading into their clash with Sweden.
No New Manager Bounce for Torrid Tunisia
Tunisia have won only one of their seven matches against Japan, and they never looked likely to lay a glove on Hajime Moriyasu’s team, who were dominant from the off.
Their tally of nine goals conceded is already their worst total at a World Cup, surpassing the eight they shipped in 2018.
Renard’s appointment made it the fifth time in World Cup history that a team has used more than one coach during a single edition of the competition. In each of those instances, the new coach failed to win their first game in charge (D3 L2).
As poor as Tunisia were – they had only two attempts, worth a combined 0.05 expected goals – Japan were excellent value for their victory.
Kamada became the second Japanese player to score a goal in consecutive World Cup matches, after Junichi Inamoto in 2002.
Ueda is the third Japan player to record both a goal and an assist in the same World Cup match. He joins Takashi Inui (v Senegal in 2018) and Keisuke Honda (v Denmark in 2010).
His second goal then saw him match Cody Gakpo as the only players to have netted twice and provide an assist in a match at this year’s tournament so far, and also made Japan the first Asian team to score four goals in a World Cup game.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tunisia vs Japan stats from their 2026 FIFA World Cup Group F meeting at Estadio Monterrey on 20 June.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Tunisia 0-4 Japan: Post-Match Opta Facts
- This victory moved Japan’s unbeaten streak at the FIFA World Cup to four straight matches (W2 D2), the longest in the nation’s history. Japan scored at least once in each of those four matches, matching the team’s longest goal-scoring run in the FIFA World Cup (1998 – 2002).
- Japan’s four goals were the most ever scored by an Asian nation in a FIFA World Cup match.
- Ayase Ueda’s goals were the 13th and 14th FIFA World Cup goals scored by a Feyenoord player. The only other Dutch club sides to have at least that many World Cup goals scored are Ajax (29) and PSV (27).
- Tunisia became the fourth country to lose consecutive matches at a single FIFA World Cup by 4+ goals. They join Greece (1994), Korea Republic (1954) and Bolivia (1930).
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