Tunesia v Japan: 2026 World Cup Prediction

The craziest things often happen during a World Cup. After all, where else would you see a coach of a participating nation sacked after a mediocre match? That’s right – at the World Cup. Tunisia lost 1–5 to Sweden and immediately parted ways with Sabri Lamouchi. In Japan, they face an opponent who, on paper, is even tougher than the Swedes. Can the North Africans bounce back from their painful start? Here’s our Tunisia v Japan prediction.

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Tunisia v Japan preview

Will Japan live up to their role as favourites against a struggling Tunisia? And will Hervé Renard completely shake things up following the 1–5 defeat to Sweden? We’ll soon have the answers to these questions. But not before we’ve told you a bit more about both teams.

Current Form & Team News

Tunisia

As mentioned, Tunisia’s World Cup squad has had a very turbulent start to the 2026 World Cup. During pre-tournament friendlies, they suffered a humiliating 0–5 defeat to Belgium, followed by another five-goal thrashing in their opening World Cup match. With the experienced Hervé Renard at the helm, they’re hoping to tighten things up a bit. And that’s essential, as they’re up against Japan – a team that works together exceptionally well. Will they focus on counter-attacking football, prioritising a solid defence? We reckon so!

Japan

We saw during the Netherlands v Japan match that the latter are a team of two halves. When they have to play football, they perform exceptionally well. Led in particular by Kubo of Real Sociedad, their attacking drive was nothing short of impressive. Yet it was also noticeable that they tended to sit back, something the Oranje found particularly difficult to deal with. It’s also worth noting that Japan tend to perform exceptionally well against the big nations. Can they also get the better of Tunisia?

Head-to-Head

Japan and Tunisia have faced each other five times in the history of international football. Japan won four of these matches, whilst the North Africans came out on top once. Their most recent encounter took place on 17 October 2023, when Japan ran out 2-0 winners in a friendly.

Predicted line-ups

Tunisia (4-3-3)

Chamakh, Abdi, Rekik, Talbi, Valery, Skhiri, Mejbri, Khedira, Gharbi, Chaouat, Achouri

Japan (5-2-3)

Suzuki, Nakamura, Ito, Watanabe, Taniguchi, Doan, Sano, Kamada, Maeda, Ueda, Kubo

Tunisia v Japan betting tips

Betting tip 1: Over 0.5 shots on target – Takefusa Kubo

We watched with a heavy heart, of course, as Japan fought their way back into the match against the Netherlands. Nevertheless, it’s fair to say that a number of Japanese players are simply incredibly talented footballers. One such player is Takefusa Kubo. The attacking midfielder, who is also often deployed as a winger, impressed and came close to scoring. We reckon the Real Sociedad player will have at least one shot on target against Tunisia. This will earn you odds of 1.81 at Oranje Palace.

Betting tip 2: Under 0.5 goals – Tunisia

Before the Netherlands scored twice against Japan, their last five opponents failed to score against the team ranked 18th in the FIFA World Rankings. To be clear, with opponents including England, Ghana and Scotland, the opposition was no pushover. This gives us confidence that Japan will also keep a clean sheet against Tunisia. Betting on Tunisia to score fewer than 0.5 goals at Oranje Palace gives you odds of 1.90.

Tunisia v Japan Prediction

** Final score: Tunisia 0–2 Japan **
We expect a narrow victory for Japan. They usually perform well at World Cups, but we expect them to struggle for a long time against Tunisia’s compact defence. Nevertheless, we believe they will come out on top.