Tunisia vs Japan Prediction: New Tunisia boss has big task first up

More Group F action in the early hours of Sunday morning - 05:00 BST - as Tunisia face Japan at Estadio Monterrey, Guadalupe, in Mexico.

Tunisia have a new coach in the wake of their disappointing, opening game mauling at the hands of Sweden, while I understand it's scheduled to be a little bit historic, too - the 1,000th game in World Cup history. Let's hope we have a match befitting that landmark.

Tunisia vs Japan Odds

Japan are warm favourites at 8/15, the Draw trades at 11/4, and Tunisia can be backed at 5/1. Japan at the odds have an implied success probability of 65.2%.

Team News

With Tunisia having a new coach in Herve Renard, he might look to tweak the side after that heavy 5-1 reverse against Sweden in their opener. The new boss at least has a handle on World Cup expectations, having previously been at the helm with Morocco in 2018 and Saudi Arabia four years ago.

Elias Achouri and Ismael Gharbi might be in for reinstatement and Firas Chaouat, Hazem Mastouri and Elias Saad seem to be jostling for the main striking role.

Japan are missing Takefusa Kubo, injured in the Netherlands draw, while Yukinari Sugawara might get the nod to start. Not many changes are envisaged, for what Japan will surely see as a proverbial must-win.

Warming the bench is expected to be 39-year-old Yuto Nagatomo, formerly of Inter Milan and an international for his country since 2008.

Half-Time/Full-Time - Japan/Japan @ 7/5

Japan played with the handbrake on against Netherlands in their opener in my view, and will feel I guess justified having escaped defeat thanks to a very late equaliser from Ogawa.

I tipped them up to win but avoiding defeat was the uppermost objective I believe, for they entered this football fiesta as surely a massive danger to all. They were on a six-match winning run and numbered some big fish among their victims.

I'm impressed enough with Tunisia's managerial appointment to believe they'll be a tougher nut to crack than Sweden found them to be, but I can't escape the thought that Japan will know full well how vital it is for their chances that they put away their opponent emphatically.

Goal difference could be key, and that imperative should keep Japan massively focused throughout. They're much better than they showed against Netherlands, and I'm hoping that translates into taking a first-half lead that they certainly don't relinquish.

To Win Both Halves - Japan @ 3/1

Continuing on the theme above - Japan need to drive home their superiority and the prospect of them winning both halves is a very bright one for me. 3/1 looks highly tempting, for a premise that appears well within the capabilities of our 17th-placed side in the FIFA world rankings. In contrast, Tunisia have dropped to 54th.

The likes of Nakamura, Maeda and Ueda can spearhead Japan's assault on the Tunisian defence, and if they harbour any kind of hope of going deep into this tournament the time for decisive action is frankly right now.

Sub Switch

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