Key events
2 mins: Tunisia have a bit of pep in their press as Japan try to settle into possession. Ito clears it with a lovely ball down the left channel, and from the resulting throw Japan should have a penalty! Shkiri comes right through the back of Ueda, doesn’t take the ball, but neither the referee nor VAR are interested. After a great start to the tournament the refereeing increasingly feels like a lottery.
Kick-off!
The final fixture of a scintillating matchday is under way…
As Peter Oh points out, “the flags of these two countries are a nearly perfect contrast. Here’s to a red-hot white-hot display of the world’s game!”
There’s our first glimpse of hunky Hervé, and yes, he is in his trademark white dress shirt, stalking the technical area like a leonine hedge fund manager.
The two teams are ready to go, making their way out into the Guadalupe night air. Tunisia are all in white this evening, Japan all blue.
These sides have met once before at the World Cup, back in 2002. The result prompted this glorious Guardian headline:
By contrast, Japan were on a six game winning streak before drawing the Netherlands and have suffered just two defeats in their past 27 outings. Before shipping a couple against the Dutch, Japan had gone five matches with conceding.
Tunisia come into this fixture off the back of three consecutive defeats and just one win in their past eight. They have scored just twice in their past five matches.
This is an insightful column on watching the World Cup through a coach’s eyes from the excellent Emma Hayes. The entry point is hydration breaks, but there’s more to it than just that.
I agree with Arsène Wenger; I want the ball in play more. I want goal-kicks taken quicker, I want throw-ins taken quicker. I want the ball in play for at least 60 minutes a game, so I like some of the new rule changes that have been introduced. The average ball-in-play time has been about 40 seconds down compared with 2022 at 57 minutes and 22 seconds, but when you factor in the hydration breaks and remove the time it takes for those breaks from the total match-time, the ball-in-play percentage has risen slightly.
There are already enough stoppages in games, so the last thing we want is more . But, for now, it’s there. On ITV, we used it by broadcasting tactical analysis, which was an idea of one of the producers and I felt I was doing what I do every day as coach; trying to simplify complex ideas in a concise way.
I realise an element of the apparent buffness is the way their sleeves have been stuffed with technology, reminiscent of Matthew McConaughey concealing a pack of smokes in his t-shirt in Dazed and Confused.
Match officials tonight are from Romania, led by 2025 Champions League final referee István Kovács. Sidenote: don’t all the refs look buff in their very smart Adidas kits.
As Dr. Jithin Yesudas Varghese informs me, this is the 1,000th match in World Cup history.
With the ever expanding format we’ll cross the 2,000 threshold in no time.
Conditions should be fine tonight with no wind or rain, and temperatures in the mid-20s. There was a risk of the match being affected by thunderstorms but that appears to have passed.
This evening’s match is taking place at the impressive Estadio BBVA, known for the duration of the World Cup as Monterrey Stadium. The 53,000 capacity arena is nicknamed the Steel Giant, and was opened in 2015.
It is famed for its view of Cerro de la Silla, a nearby mountain with a highest peak of almost 6,000 feet. The steep stands and proximity of seating to the pitch will help the atmosphere.
Tunisia have already tasted defeat here, losing 5-1 to Sweden in the opening round of matches.
Joe Pearson, it’s lovely to hear from you. “Fear not the time zones. World Cup die hards will always be there for you. Living in the Eastern Time Zone, I seem to recall getting up at four or so in the morning to watch matches from the South Korea edition. Admittedly much younger then, but I’ll be with you tonight as long as I can make it (Narrator: It won’t be long).”
You’re a trooper Joe. It’s appreciated.
“This match is mostly interesting from a coaching point of view for mine,” emails Stephen Hogg. “We have a really nice experiment to see what the value is of having a long-standing coach (Moriyasu), given that Hervé Renard has had about 30 seconds to do anything with his squad. Renard is Renard though, so he likely hasn’t been sitting still. Preparations on both sides for this one would be a bit unusual as a result.”
Renard was mightily unfortunate not to be at this World Cup to begin with after qualifying with Saudi Arabia. He took over from Roberto Mancini (who was doing a lousy job) during the group phase, and saw them over the line in the continental playoffs. His fortunate replacement Georgios Donis, is hardly Rinus Michels either.
Japan come into today’s game as clear favourites and ready to shake off the tag of popular nearly-men.
Japan won six out of six in the first round of qualifying and then seven out of 10 in the second, losing just once, a remarkable achievement given the distances involved and the huge variety of opponents and conditions. But being the best in Asia is no longer enough, and a run of six successive friendly wins since, including over England and Brazil, is arguably even more important than qualifying with three games to spare, for reasons of self-belief if nothing else.
Injuries have hit them hard. The captain Wataru Endo withdrew from the squad this week, while the loss of Kaoru Mitoma to a hamstring injury sustained playing for Brighton against Wolves in May is a major blow, particularly with Takumi Minamino rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament. It says much about the development of Japanese football, though, that their absences are not seen as terminal. That Minamino has travelled with the squad to offer moral support suggests their togetherness.
Japan XI
Changes for Japan too with Tomiyasu and Itakura stiffening the back three, and Ito and Tanaka coming into the front three. Kubo misses out through injury and the lively playmaker is a big loss to a side already missing Minamino and Mitoma.
Expect the same 3-4-3 structure that has served Moriyasu well in recent months as he has built Japan from a side capable of dominating Asia to one equipped to handle the rest of the world.
Japan (3-4-3) 1 Suzuki; 22 Tomiyasu, 4 Itakura, 21 Ito; 10 Doan, 24 Sano, 15 Kamada, 13 Nakamura; 14 Ito, 7 Tanaka, 18 Ueda.
Tunisia XI
Renard has immediately stamped his authority on this Tunisian side. He’s replaced the goalkeeper Chamakh (who only scored a 3 on Guardian’s player ratings for the opening match), brought Dylan Bronn into the back three, and handed a start to Sebastien Tounekti in the front three. It looks as though Mejbri, the chief outlet against Sweden, will play in a midfield two rather than as a floating No 10.
Tunisia (5-3-2): 16 Dahmen, 20 Valery, 2 Abdi, 3 Talbi, 4 Rekik, 6 Bronn; 17 Skhiri 10 Mejbri; 26 Tounekti, 25 Ben Slimane, 8 Saad.
Preparations for this tournament, and this match in particular, have not gone smoothly for Tunisia. But it’s always nice to have Herve Renard and his fitted white dress shirt on the touchline.
Tunisia have sacked their head coach Sabri Lamouchi and appointed Hervé Renard until the end of the World Cup, after losing their opening game 5-1 to Sweden.
Former Nottingham Forest manager Lamouchi had only taken over in January and was in charge for just five matches, but he has become the first coach to be dismissed after a single game of a World Cup finals.
A statement from the Federation Tunisienne de Football announced the “termination of its contractual relationship” with Lamouchi by mutual agreement. Renard will bring World Cup experience having led Saudi Arabia to a surprise 2-1 win over eventual champions Argentina in Qatar, and he also took charge of Morocco in 2018. The 57-year-old has also managed Ivory Coast, Zambia and Angola at international level.
Slight tangent, but I think you’ll enjoy it.
I am unlikely to be in Dublin September, but if I was I would make sure to visit an exhibition at Hen’s Teeth featuring original paintings of all of Roy Keane’s career red cards. The promotional image is a painting of Keane stamping on Gareth Southgate in an FA Cup semi-final.
I have no connection to the artist or the venue, but it popped up in my feed and I thought it looked brilliant.
Ed Aarons was in Kansas City to witness the smallest nation in World Cup history securing their maiden point at the finals.
With well over an hour to kick-off there’s plenty of time for an update from Chandler and Joey / Will and Grace / 2 Broke Girls or whatever your preferred combination of New York flatmates happens to be, on the World Cup Daily podcast.
Bracketology has been a godsend, hasn’t it? With the final round of group matches hoving into view it has never been more valuable. I might be crazy, but I now have England taking on DR Congo in the round of 32.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Tunisia v Japan from Estadio Monterrey. Kick-off in this Group F clash is 9pm local time (12am EDT/5am BST/2pm AEST).
Wherever you happen to be in the world thank you for keeping me company on what is perhaps the graveyard shift of the entire tournament. There isn’t the novelty of the first round of group matches, there isn’t the jeopardy of the third, and our cups already runneth over thanks to three of the matches of the World Cup so far already this matchday.
Moreover, Tunisia were so bad against Sweden the other day they sacked their manager on the spot, while Japan looked tidy against the Netherlands, suggesting the result might not require the clairvoyance of Paul the octopus.
That is not to say there is nothing at stake. Tunisia must get a positive result to remain alive in the competition. Japan will want to secure their place in the knockout stages before a clash with a Sweden side that boats one of the most impressive forward lines in the draw.
Maybe, for all my pessimism, we will be treated to a cracker.
I’ll be back shortly with team news and a roundup of all the matchday action so far. In the meantime you can keep an enjoy the fallout from Curacao somehow denying Ecuador in Group E and email any thoughts about the World Cup to jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com.
The first result to plug into the matrix this matchday was the Netherlands announcing themselves as serious contenders with a 5-1 thumping of Sweden in a highly entertaining affair. It’s over to Japan to keep pace in Group F.
When given oxygen the Netherlands were simply too good, scoring straight after the restart when Summerville twisted Sweden inside out and allowed Dumfries to cross again. Gakpo could not miss from a couple of yards and, enjoying a wildly productive afternoon of his own, proceeded to score another. This time he took a pass from Summerville, who had not been deemed fit to start, and cracked low to Kristoffer Nordfeldt’s right from 20 yards.
Germany boast a supremely talented squad and innvoative young coach, but their World Cup hopes always threatened to come down to the ability of the unfancied Kai Havertz and Deniz Undav to find the back of the net. So far so good.
Some footballing stereotypes just will not fade away. Germany may no longer be the mirthless, methodical winning machine who would slowly maul their opponents until they inevitably engineered victory, but, evidently, they still know how to fashion match-winners from final moments.
Consequently, the Germans will play in the World Cup knockout stages for the first time in 12 years after another victory at the death. Côte d’Ivoire had gone ahead in a lively encounter on Saturday through Franck Kessié’s 30th-minute goal for Les Éléphants. But it was cancelled out by Deniz Undav’s 68th-minute equaliser and 94th-minute winner for Die Mannschaft.
