Ueda Braces as Dominant Japan Thrash Tunisia 4-0
Japan stamped their authority on the 2026 World Cup with a commanding 4-0 demolition of Tunisia on Saturday at the Estadio Monterrey in Guadalupe, Mexico, a result that ended the North African side’s tournament and lifted the Asian giants to the brink of the last 32.
Striker Ayase Ueda scored twice, with Daichi Kamada and Junya Ito also on the scoresheet, as Hajime Moriyasu’s men joined the Netherlands on four points at the top of Group F. Japan and the Netherlands share the same goal difference after the Dutch shellacked Sweden 5-1 earlier in the day.
The win carried historic weight. Japan became the first Asian Football Confederation team to score four goals in a single World Cup match, while also recording their largest margin of victory at the finals. The contest was itself a landmark, billed as the 1,000th game in World Cup history.
Kamada set the tone inside four minutes, Japan’s quickest-ever goal at a World Cup, finishing from close range after sharp interplay between Ao Tanaka and Keito Nakamura. The Blue Samurai almost doubled the lead immediately, but a goalline clearance from Dylan Bronn and a desperate save from goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen, confirmed by goal-line technology, kept the score down.
Ueda struck on 31 minutes, surging onto a loose ball and firing low into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Ito made it three on 69 minutes, latching onto a clever through ball to slot home, before Ueda completed his brace with a looping header in the 83rd minute.
Tunisia’s misery was complete. They registered just two shots all match for an expected goals figure of 0.05, against Japan’s 11 shots and five on target. The result mirrored their earlier collapse, having been thumped 5-1 by Sweden in their opener.
The defeat marked a chastening start for new Tunisia manager Herve Renard. He was hastily appointed to lead the campaign after predecessor Sabri Lamouchi was sacked in the wake of the Sweden drubbing. Tunisia’s wider World Cup record remains modest, though their place in history is secure as the first African team to win a match at the finals, beating Mexico 3-1 in 1978.
For Japan, the performance vindicated their billing as one of the tournament’s dark horses. Having held the three-time runners-up Netherlands to a 2-2 draw in their opener, they now control their own destiny. The build-up was equally telling: defender Ko Itakura completed 80 passes, the first time a Japanese player had reached that mark in a World Cup fixture.
Attention now turns to a decisive Group F finale. Japan face Sweden in Arlington, Texas, on June 25, while Tunisia close out their campaign against the Netherlands in Kansas City on the same day. Under the 2026 format, the tournament now prioritises head-to-head results before overall goal difference, meaning the Japan-Sweden clash could effectively become a knockout fixture. A point would likely seal Japan’s progress and continue a quiet but steady rise that has seen the four-time Asian champions reach the last 16 in three of the past four World Cups.