Tunisia

Tunisia arrive at their sixth World Cup the way they have always arrived: as the lowest-ranked team in the group, with a captain (Ellyes Skhiri) who could play for anyone, a midfielder (Hannibal Mejbri) the tabloids will obsess over, and zero prior knockout-round experience. What is new in 2026 is the route here. Sami Trabelsi, in his second spell as Tunisia coach, guided the Carthage Eagles through the CAF third round of qualifying without conceding a single goal — the first time any nation has qualified for a World Cup with a clean defensive sheet. The reward was a January 2026 sacking after a Round of 16 penalty-shootout exit to Mali at the AFCON. Sabri Lamouchi was appointed on January 14, has had five months to install his system, and is officially on a contract through July 2028.

Lamouchi has chosen continuity over revolution. The qualifying spine — Dahmen in goal, Talbi at the back, Skhiri and Ben Slimane in midfield, Achouri and Mejbri in attack — has been retained. The change is a more cautious shape, a deeper midfield three, and several fresh attacking call-ups (including [unverified] Hatem Mastouri) added to give Tunisia an actual goalscoring threat ahead of group games where they will need to win one to advance. The pre-tournament friendlies (2-1 over Mauritania, 1-1 with Comoros) are not informative; the squad has not played anyone at Group F’s level since AFCON in January.

The schedule is friendly in order if not in difficulty. Sweden first up on June 14 in Monterrey is the most winnable game in the group — Sweden are technically superior but vulnerable to fast transitions and only just qualified through the playoffs. A win or a draw here changes the whole tournament. Japan on June 20 in Monterrey is the rematch of the 0-0 friendly in Qatar 2022 (Tunisia won 1-0 in a 2022 group-stage dead-rubber, but Japan has improved more in four years) — a structural problem because Japan’s mid-block sits in exactly the areas Tunisia want to break through. Netherlands in the closing matchday on June 25 in Kansas City is the toughest match on paper; the heat and humidity of late-June Kansas City could level the field if either side has already qualified or been eliminated by then.

Tunisia have appeared at six World Cups (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022) and have never made it out of the group stage. Their 1978 win over Mexico in Rosario was the first World Cup victory by an African nation; their qualifying clean-sheet record under Trabelsi in 2025 was the first in tournament history. The history is built on small firsts. A Round of 16 berth in 2026 would be a much larger one — and it requires beating Sweden in Monterrey on opening day.

Tunisia arrive at their sixth World Cup the same way they have arrived at the previous five: as the lowest-ranked side in their group, with a goalkeeper and a captain who could play anywhere, a midfield that does not stop running, and zero prior knockout-round experience. What is different this time is the route they took to get here — Sami Trabelsi, in his second stint as head coach, guided the Carthage Eagles through the CAF third round of qualifying without conceding a goal, the first nation in World Cup history to do so. The federation rewarded him by sacking him in January 2026 after a penalty-shootout exit to Mali in the AFCON Round of 16, then handed Sabri Lamouchi — Franco-Tunisian, formerly of Nottingham Forest, Rennes and Cardiff — five months to rebuild ahead of the tournament.

Lamouchi’s brief was to add an attacking dimension Trabelsi never produced. His preliminary squad announced May 15 retains the spine — Skhiri, Mejbri, Talbi, Abdi, Achouri, Dahmen — and brings in fresher attacking faces including [unverified] new call-up Hatem Mastouri. The 4-3-3 is more nominal than literal; out of possession it becomes a deep 5-4-1, with Achouri the only attacker asked to chase. Set pieces are the most reliable scoring source. Skhiri, who runs Eintracht Frankfurt’s midfield in the Bundesliga and is the most decorated player in the squad, will play the No. 6 role and is the single most important player on the pitch in every Tunisian match.

The schedule has been kind in its order — Sweden first up in Monterrey is the closest the squad will come to a winnable game, and a draw or a win there reshapes the entire group. Japan in matchday two is a stylistic nightmare, since Japan press the same areas Tunisia want to play through, but a 0-0 friendly in 2022 showed Tunisia can defend the game flat. Netherlands in the closing matchday in Kansas City projects as the toughest match of the group — and possibly a final-table elimination — but the heat, altitude and squad rotation could level the field.

Historically, Tunisia have been to six World Cups (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022, plus this 2026 entry) and have never advanced from the group stage. Their 1978 win over Mexico in Rosario was the first World Cup victory by an African nation. Mejbri’s generation now carries the burden of being the squad that finally goes further.

Ceiling: a first-ever Round of 16, requiring a Sweden win and a Japan draw or better. Floor: three group-stage defeats and a third straight Trabelsi-era pattern of “competitive but eliminated.” Most likely: third place in Group F, one or two points, eliminated with credit on goal difference.

Sabri Lamouchi is 54, was born in Lyon to Tunisian parents, played 12 times for France between 1996 and 2000, and was appointed head coach of Tunisia on January 14, 2026 — five months and one week before the country’s opening match against Sweden in Monterrey. He has French and Tunisian citizenship, but had never played for nor coached in the country of his parents until this appointment. His contract runs through July 2028. The Tunisian FA hired him in a five-day rescue process after Sami Trabelsi was fired in the wake of a Round of 16 penalty-shootout exit to Mali at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

As a player Lamouchi was an elegant central midfielder, the sort of player Marcello Lippi and Alberto Malesani liked to organise their Italian sides around. He spent four years at Auxerre, won Ligue 1 with Monaco in 2000, then crossed to Serie A for the second half of his career — Parma, Inter Milan, Genoa — before finishing at Marseille in 2006. The technical pedigree shows up in his coaching: his teams keep their shape, but they pass through pressure rather than around it.

The managerial record before Tunisia is divisive. The Ivory Coast job (2012 to 2015) produced a 2015 AFCON quarter-final exit when the squad had Yaya Touré, Wilfried Bony and Gervinho at their peaks — a result widely judged as underperformance. Rennes was a clean qualification for Europe in 2017-18 followed by a poor 2018 that got him sacked. Nottingham Forest in 2019-20 was the high point of his club career — seventh in the Championship, a Manager of the Month award, and a defensive system that drew widespread praise. Cardiff in 2023 was a 16-game caretaker rescue stint that kept the club in the Championship.

For Tunisia he inherited a squad whose qualifying record under Trabelsi was historic: a third-round CAF group without conceding a single goal, the first time any nation has qualified for a World Cup without conceding. Lamouchi’s reshaping has been narrow rather than wholesale. He has retained the spine of the qualifying side (Skhiri, Talbi, Abdi, Dahmen, Mejbri, Achouri) but added attacking-minded call-ups and removed several of Trabelsi’s older selections. Tactically he is more cautious than Trabelsi was — fewer high-line gambles, a deeper midfield three with Skhiri as the anchor, and Mejbri pushed into a No. 10 role behind a single striker. The pre-tournament friendlies (a 2-1 win over Mauritania and a 1-1 draw with Comoros in March 2026) were inconclusive. The first real test of his system will be the June 14 opener against Sweden — a game Tunisia must win to have any realistic path to the knockout rounds.