1:5 against Sweden in the video
©IMAGO
The Tunisian Football Association has separated from national coach Sabri Lamouchi during the current World Cup. This was confirmed on the association’s social media channels on Tuesday morning. The Frenchman Hervé Renard should be his successor to lead the national team for the rest of the tournament, state television quoted association president Moez Nasri as saying. The 1:5 in the opening game of the World Cup in Monterrey against Sweden was the last game as national coach for Lamouchi, who only took over the position in January and was actually under contract until the summer of 2028.
Tunisian television reported that he left the national team’s headquarters in Mexico after an agreement was reached to terminate the contract. Renard is expected to arrive at the team camp promptly to prepare for the second game against Japan on Sunday (CEST). The 57-year-old Renard most recently worked as Saudi Arabia’s coach. He already has some experience as a coach of African national teams and led Zambia and Ivory Coast to the Africa Cup of Nations titles.
The significant defeat against Sweden was too much for the 54-year-old Lamouchi, whose team ranks in the bottom third of the World Cup with a squad value of around 70 million euros (to the World Cup participant statistics). Since he was hired as Tunisia’s national coach in January of this year, there had only been one win, a 1-0 win against Haiti. In preparation for the World Cup, the former French international’s team lost 1-0 against Austria and 5-0 against Belgium in the dress rehearsal.
In the remaining two World Cup preliminary round games, Tunisia is under great pressure against Japan (Sunday, 6 a.m.) and the Netherlands (June 26, 1 a.m.) in Group F.
