Unsurprisingly, the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico is already garnering a lot of attention on and off the pitch, for both positive and negative reasons.

The 23rd edition of the tournament began last Thursday with Mexico defeating South Africa 3-0 in Mexico City, with one goal scored by Wolverhampton Wanderers’ cult hero and summer recruit Raul Jimenez.

In the days that followed, we’ve already seen representation from players now playing in the Championship, League One, and League Two, with a few of them also scoring.

Most notably, West Ham United’s in-demand winger, Crysencio Summerville, scored the Netherlands’ second goal in a thrilling 2-2 draw with Japan in Dallas on Sunday night in Group F’s opening game.

Finally, Ronald Koeman’s team was placed in an intriguing group with their Asian opponents, as well as Sweden and Tunisia, who faced off in the early hours of Monday morning UK time at Monterrey Stadium, which is well-known for its breathtaking mountainous setting.

It was also a meeting in which two former Championship managers faced off at the big event, with Graham Potter, who previously guided Swansea City to the 2020/21 play-off final, taking against Sabri Lamouchi, a former Cardiff City adversary.

However, it was the Scandinavians who sent a message to their group rivals, and possibly supporters of other nations, with a comprehensive 5-1 thrashing in the Mexican dusk.

As a result, despite Tunisia’s remaining two group stage games, the latter is apparently on his way out.

Sabri Lamouchi faces the sack from Tunisia World Cup post following Sweden’s defeat.

Indeed, Lamouchi made his EFL debut in the summer of 2019, when Nottingham Forest were anxious to break their previous extended exile from the Premier League.

Under Evangelos Marinakis’ well-documented and contentious ownership, the Frenchman replaced the hugely experienced Martin O’Neill at the City Ground.

In the early weeks and months of his tenure, the Lyon native enjoyed strong success, with the East Midlands competing for promotion against the likes of Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion, before they fell away after ‘project restart’ and missed out on a place in the top six, but he was still the club’s first manager to complete an entire season since 2011.

However, a poor start to the 2020/21 season saw him ousted and replaced by Chris Hughton, before joining Cardiff for a brief spell in the second half of the 2022/23 season, when the Bluebirds finished 21st.

The 54-year-old was hired as Tunisia’s manager on a two-and-a-half-year contract in January, but he was reportedly fired after their 5-1 loss to Sweden.

According to Romain Molina, “it is the end for Sabri Lamouchi at the helm of the Tunisian national team.”

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Sabri Lamouchi sought a reply from Tunisia following Sweden’s humiliation.

Tunisia would have no doubt been optimistic about their chances of progressing in the tournament, especially because the eight best-performing third-placed teams advanced to the round of 32 as a result of the expansion to 48 nations.

However, those chances were dealt a significant blow in terms of confidence and goal differential, with Lamouchi offering his thoughts following the game.

“With world-class players like our two Swedish forwards, it’s something you can’t recover from. We made far too many mistakes. We have pride. We need to react. “We need to present a better image,” stated the 54-year-old.

However, with the African country’s next match against Japan also scheduled for Monterrey in the early hours of Sunday morning, it remains to be seen whether the former EFL manager would be given the opportunity to demand such a reaction from his squad on the field.