Tunisia, two others eliminated from 2026 World Cup

Tunisia, two others eliminated from 2026 World Cup

 

Tunisia became the latest casualty of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Sunday after a crushing 4-0 defeat to Japan confirmed their elimination from the tournament, joining Haiti and Turkey among the first nations to crash out of the global football showpiece.

The North Africans’ hopes of reaching the Round of 32 were extinguished at the Estadio Monterrey in Guadalupe, where Japan delivered a dominant performance to leave the Carthage Eagles rooted to the bottom of Group F without a point from two matches.

Having suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Sweden in their opening fixture, Tunisia entered the encounter against Japan needing a positive result to keep their qualification hopes alive.

However, another heavy loss ensured they became the third team to be mathematically eliminated from the competition.

With zero points and a significantly inferior goal difference, Tunisia can no longer catch the teams occupying the qualification spots in the group, regardless of the outcome of their final match.

The result means Haiti and Turkey, who had earlier been knocked out of the tournament, are no longer alone in making an early exit from the expanded World Cup.

Tunisia will now play for pride when they take on the Netherlands in their final Group F fixture in the coming days.

The early elimination represents a disappointing campaign for the Carthage Eagles, who arrived at the tournament hoping to improve on previous World Cup performances but instead endured back-to-back heavy defeats that brought their challenge to a premature end.