Tunisia vs Japan Preview

Sunday’s early-hours Group F fixture at Estadio BBVA sees Tunisia take on Japan, with the two sides occupying opposite ends of the form table heading into this contest. Tunisia sit bottom of the group after their opening defeat, while Japan arrive unbeaten in their last four matches and full of confidence after a hard-fought draw with the Netherlands.

Tunisia’s World Cup opener brought a heavy 5-1 defeat away to Sweden on 15th June, a result that leaves them already facing an uphill battle in this group. Prior to that, they lost 5-0 away to Belgium in a pre-tournament friendly. Before that, a 1-0 away defeat to Austria. Earlier in this run they drew 0-0 away to Canada, and in their oldest result here they won 1-0 away to Haiti. The Eagles of Carthage have struggled badly for results in recent weeks and need a dramatic turnaround to keep their tournament alive.

Japan opened with a 2-2 draw away to the Netherlands on 14th June, a credible result against tough opposition that leaves them well placed in the group. Prior to that, they beat Iceland 1-0 at home in a warm-up friendly. Before that, they won 1-0 away to England. Earlier in this run they beat Scotland 1-0 away, and in their oldest result here they thrashed Bolivia 3-0 at home. The Blue Samurai have been one of the most consistent sides in international football over recent months and arrive as clear favourites here.

The head-to-head record heavily favours Japan, who have won four of the last five meetings, with one win for Tunisia and no draws. Most recently, Japan won 2-0 at home in October 2023. In the previous encounter, Tunisia won 3-0 away from home at the Kirin Cup in June 2022.

Japan currently lead this head-to-head matchup decisively and arrive with one point from their opener, level with Netherlands, while Tunisia sit bottom on zero points having conceded five goals in their only match. A Japan win would move them to four points and put them firmly in control of their own qualification destiny, while Tunisia simply cannot afford another defeat if they are to keep any realistic hope alive.

In the UK, this match is live on BBC One and available to stream via BBC iPlayer. In the United States, viewers can watch on Fox Sports 1 or fuboTV. Tunisian viewers can follow the action on Watania 1 or beIN SPORTS CONNECT, while Japanese fans can tune in on DAZN Japan or Nippon TV.

Lineups & Injuries

Tunisia (3-5-2) Chamakh, Talbi, Rekik, Hannibal, Skhiri, Ben Slimane, Khedira, Saad, Ben Hamida, Abdi, Valery

Japan (3-4-2-1) Suzuki, Taniguchi, Ueda, Ito, Watanabe, Kamada, Sano, Nakamura, Doan, Kubo, Maeda

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Group F Table

Pos	Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	P
1	Sweden	1	1	0	0	5	1	+4	3
2	Japan	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
3	Netherlands	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
4	Tunisia	1	0	0	1	1	5	-4	0

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Tunisia Form

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
❌	Sweden	5-1	Tunisia	World Cup	15.06.26
❌	Belgium	5-0	Tunisia	Friendly	06.06.26
❌	Austria	1-0	Tunisia	Friendly	01.06.26
🤝	Canada	0-0	Tunisia	Friendly	01.04.26
✅	Haiti	0-1	Tunisia	Friendly	29.03.26

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Japan Form

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
🤝	Netherlands	2-2	Japan	World Cup	14.06.26
✅	Japan	1-0	Iceland	Friendly	31.05.26
✅	England	0-1	Japan	Friendly	31.03.26
✅	Scotland	0-1	Japan	Friendly	28.03.26
✅	Japan	3-0	Bolivia	Friendly	18.11.25

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Head-to-Head

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
Japan	2-0	Tunisia	Friendly	17.10.23
Japan	0-3	Tunisia	Kirin Cup	14.06.22
Japan	2-0	Tunisia	Friendly	27.03.15
Tunisia	0-1	Japan	Friendly	08.10.03
Tunisia	0-2	Japan	World Cup	14.06.02

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TV Listings / Streaming

Country	Channel
Great Britain	BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 Live
Ireland	RTE 2, RTE Player, BBC One, BBC iPlayer
USA	Fox Sports 1, fuboTV, Telemundo
Tunisia	Watania 1, beIN SPORTS CONNECT
Japan	DAZN Japan, Nippon TV, NHK BS 1
France	beIN Sports 1, beIN SPORTS CONNECT
Germany	ORF eins, SRF zwei, MagentaTV
Australia	SBS, SBS On Demand
Canada	TSN1, TSN+, RDS
Italy	DAZN Italia