{"id":213956,"date":"2026-06-16T02:12:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T02:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/tunisia-set-to-fire-head-coach-sabri-lamouchi-after-just-one-world-cup-game-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T02:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T02:12:21","slug":"tunisia-set-to-fire-head-coach-sabri-lamouchi-after-just-one-world-cup-game-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/tunisia-set-to-fire-head-coach-sabri-lamouchi-after-just-one-world-cup-game-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunisia set to fire head coach Sabri Lamouchi after just one World Cup game &#8211; The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>World Cup<br \/>Lamouchi called the defeat by Sweden &quot;painful&quot;<!-- --> <span class=\"Article_ImageCredit__2YNda inherit Typography_base__T6j8f\">Julio Cesar Aguilar via Getty Images<\/span><br \/><i><span>The Athletic has live coverage of <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/live-blogs\/saudi-arabia-vs-uruguay-live-updates-world-cup-2026-score-result\/69nsNqgcLx1t\/\"><i><span>Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span> in the <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/live-blogs\/world-cup-today-live-updates-scores-results-news-latest\/24EPcmy9Uk4B\/\"><i><span>2026 FIFA World Cup<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><br \/>Tunisia are set to fire their head coach Sabri Lamouchi after only one World Cup game.<br \/>Sources briefed on the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, said on Monday that Tunisia intended to part ways with Lamouchi following Sunday\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7357557\/2026\/06\/15\/sweden-tunisia-ayari-best-world-cup-goal\/\">5-1 defeat to Sweden<\/a> in their World Cup group stage opener.<br \/>Advertisement<br \/>His anticipated departure would see him become the first coach to be fired just one game into a World Cup tournament.<br \/><iframe id=\"datawrapper-chart-ST3RL\" class=\"dw-light\" style=\"width: 100%; min-width: 100% !important; border: none; height: 100%;\" title=\"Just three managers have ever been fired during a World Cup before, with all of them dismissed in the space of a few days at the 1998 edition\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/ST3RL\/3\/?dark=false\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-external=\"1\"><\/iframe> <script type=\"text\/javascript\">!function(){\"use strict\";window.addEventListener(\"message\",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(\"[id='datawrapper-chart-ST3RL']\");for(var t in a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"][t]+\"px\";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}(); <\/script><br \/>Lamouchi, 54, has won just one of his five games in charge of Tunisia following his appointment five months ago.<br \/>Goals from Sweden's Yasin Ayari, Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres and Mattias Svenberg saw his side fall to defeat at the Monterrey Stadium on Monday. Tunisia, now bottom of Group F, still have two more games to play in the group stage \u2014 against Japan on June 21 before facing the Netherlands on June 26.<br \/>\u201cIt\u2019s a difficult loss. It's painful,\u201d Lamouchi told reporters after the Sweden defeat. \u201cStarting the competition with \u2060this bad of a loss is indeed difficult.<br \/>\u201cWith world-class players that we have in the two Swedish forwards (Gyokeres and Isak), it\u2019s something that you don\u2019t recover from. We made way too many mistakes. We have our pride. We need to react. We need to give a better image.\u201d<br \/>Lamouchi was appointed Tunisia coach in January 2026, replacing Sami Trabelsi, who left his role following the nation's last-16 exit at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.<br \/>The former Ivory Coast, Rennes, Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, and Al Riyadh manager lost three of his five games in charge of Tunisia. A 1-0 victory over Haiti in March was Lamouchi's only victory while his side were also beaten 5-0 by Belgium on June 6 in a pre-World Cup friendly.<br \/>Tunisia are not the first team to dismiss a manager mid-tournament, and they have done so before.<br \/>In the 1998 World Cup, held in France, the country sacked head coach Henryk Kasperczak before the end of the group stage after losing to England and Colombia without scoring. Ali Selmi took charge for their final group match, which they drew, against Romania.<br \/>More recently in February 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5223901\/2024\/01\/24\/ivory-coast-manager-afcon-gasset\/\">the Ivory Coast sacked Jean-Louis Gasset<\/a> two games into their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations campaign after two group stage losses left them on the brink of elimination. He was replaced by assistant coach Emerse Fae, who guided the side to win that tournament.<br \/>Advertisement<br \/><em>Analysis by Jay Harris<\/em><br \/>This is the second time in 2026 that Tunisia have parted company with their head coach.<br \/>In January, Sami Trabelsi was sacked one day after Tunisia were eliminated by Mali on penalties in the round of 16 at the Africa Cup of Nations. Tunisia looked on course to reach the quarter-finals when they took the lead in the 88th minute through Firas Chaouat but then conceded in stoppage time. If the manner of that defeat was painful, what happened against Sweden was embarrassing. It was made even worse by Yasin Ayari, whose father is Tunisian, scoring two of Sweden\u2019s goals.<br \/>Initially, there was optimism following Lamouchi\u2019s appointment. The 54-year-old, who represented France during his playing career but was born to Tunisian parents, started giving opportunities to the next generation, including 21-year-old Paris Saint-Germain winger Khalil Ayari. He also called up Vancouver Whitecaps\u2019 18-year-old forward Rayan Elloumi and 22-year-old defender Raed Chikhaoui. Lamouchi was trying to give the squad an injection of youth at the expense of experience and it backfired as they were outclassed by Sweden.<\/p>\n<p>Omar Belghith is a Tunisian supporter who spoke to <em>The Athletic<\/em> for the Language of Soccer series. He describes Tunisia\u2019s performance against Sweden as their \u201cworst World Cup defeat in history.\u201d<br \/>\u201cThere were no tactics, no structure and no identity \u2014 just chaos on the pitch,\u201d Belghith, who has supported Tunisia since watching the 1998 World Cup aged five, told The Athletic. \u201cPlayers looked lost and completely out of position. The team started without a real striker. Every decision looked wrong from the first minute to the last.<br \/>\u201cBut the real problem isn\u2019t just the coach. It\u2019s the people who appointed him and allowed this to happen in the first place. Total responsibility goes all the way to the top. At some point it\u2019s no longer about the coaches, it\u2019s about the system making the same mistakes over and over.\u201d<br \/>Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<br \/>Find the hidden link between sports terms<br \/>Play today&#x27;s puzzle<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMijAFBVV95cUxQaWtpV3hhNGU3ZVZ4YWtpSV9XeUI3SUdqYTVvYU9VNm5VcmNHVEQ5TFBUVm5qdlQtZnNmV0dZdko2UkNWdDVMbGZPX2JnR2xwUGR1SGVqc3VHbzVSeHNCcGdDOFppeExrTEFGM1RwQzZxdTdWenRvemJJTlBGRHNwSlVodm9wbHpXWmR3eQ?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World CupLamouchi called the defeat by Sweden &quot;painful&quot; Julio Cesar Aguilar via Getty ImagesThe Athletic has live coverage of Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.Tunisia are set to fire their head coach Sabri Lamouchi after only one World Cup game.Sources briefed on the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-213956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}