Tunisian defender angry at federation for sudden change of coach
Tunisia was eliminated from the 2026 World Cup in disgrace. Defender Ali Abdi was furious and even cried because the Tunisian Football Federation (TFF) had arbitrarily replaced the coach.
Tunisia kicked off their Group F campaign with a 5-1 defeat to Sweden. This result led to the dismissal of coach Sabri Lamouchi just five matches into his tenure in January 2026.
The team, nicknamed the Carthaginian Eagles, then hired coach Hervé Renard to face Japan. Instead of improving, Tunisia was thrashed 0-4.
Tunisia qualified for the 2026 World Cup as winners of Group H in the African qualifying phase. Coach Sami Trabelsi delivered a strong result.
Tunisia won nine of its 10 qualifying matches and drew one. Even more impressively, they scored 22 goals without conceding.
Sami Trabelsi was sacked in January 2026 after Tunisia was eliminated from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Tunisia had lost to Mali on penalties.
"I apologize to the Tunisian fans, but not to the people who just spread rumors everywhere. It's not in the interests of the country," said Abdi after the match.
"We don't have time to work as a team; instead of fixing the flaws, we're tearing everything down and rebuilding it all the time," the Nice defender continued.
"We came to the World Cup with players who had never played together before. If you look at the Japanese players, it's the same team from 2022; meanwhile, we change the team every tournament. You can't build like that," he stressed. (ran/pur)
