BBC News, Arabic Go to content Main Watch Listen Main Sections News Economy Health and Science Culture and Arts 2026 World Cup Investigations News Economy Health and Science Culture and Arts 2026 World Cup Investigations World Cup: Netherlands beats Tunisia 3-1 and qualifies for the Round of 32 Photo credit, Reuters
Tunisia's national team ended their participation in the 2026 World Cup disappointingly on Friday, suffering their third consecutive defeat in the group stage, this time against the leading Netherlands team by a score of 3-1, while Japan secured second place in Group Six after drawing 1-1 with Sweden.
Before the match, French coach Hervé Renard urged his players to show pride and dignity in their last matches after they exited the tournament early.
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However, the Tunisian team, which lost 5-1 in its opening match against Sweden, led to the dismissal of previous coach Sbari Lamouchi and the hiring of Renard to salvage the situation but suffered a second loss of 4-0 to Japan, faced another harsh defeat today against the Netherlands.
Renard made four changes to the lineup that started the loss to Japan, with Ben Mohamed, Amin Hamida, Rani Khedira, and Hazem El-Mestouri coming in for Omar Rekik, Sebastien Tounkti, Dylan Bronn, and Elias Saad.
On the other hand, Ronald Koeman made one change to the lineup that won against Sweden, with defender Nathan Aké replacing Mickey van de Ven.
The Tunisian team fell behind by two goals in the first seven minutes of today’s match, with Elyes Skhiri scoring an own goal in the third minute after failing to deal with a cross from the right sent by Denzel Dumfries.
Brian Brobbey added the second goal for the Netherlands after four more minutes, from close range, taking advantage of a free kick taken by Tijjani Reijnders from the right, which was headed by Virgil van Dijk to reach Brobbey who tucked it into the net.
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The Netherlands could have ended the first half with a larger score, were it not for the brilliance of Tunisian goalkeeper Ayman Dahman who saved several dangerous opportunities.
Hazem El-Mestouri narrowed the gap for Tunisia in the 54th minute with a header following a corner kick, but Yann Boully van Heeky restored the two-goal margin by scoring the third goal for the Netherlands in the 62nd minute with a header after a corner kick that Anis Ben Slimane failed to deal with, also completing it with his head into the net.
The Netherlands nearly added a fourth goal, but the crossbar denied Reijnders’ shot from inside the penalty area.
Hannibal Mejri shot a powerful ball from outside the area in the 76th minute, which was brilliantly saved by the Dutch goalkeeper.
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In the other match, Daizen Maeda gave Japan the lead in the 56th minute, before Anthony Elanga equalized for Sweden in the 62nd minute.
The Netherlands topped Group Six with seven points, followed by Japan with five points, then Sweden in third place with four points, while Tunisia languished at the bottom of the standings with no points, despite a strong qualifying campaign during which they did not concede a single goal.
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