By Amaechi Agbo

Tunisia has appointed Hervé Renard as their new coach few hours after sacking former head coach Sabri Lamouchi. Renard’s appointment came following Tunisia’s heavy 5-1 defeat by Sweden in their World Cup ⁠opener in Monterrey.

Lamouchi, the first coaching casualty of the tournament, was appointed in January on ⁠a contract until 2028. He left the post with matches to come against Japan and the Netherlands.

Tunisia won just one of their five games under Lamouchi, beating ​Haiti 1-0 in March, while ‌losing 1-0 to Austria ‌and being thrashed 5-0 by Belgium in a pair of World ‌Cup warm-up matches earlier in June.

The Tunisian Football Federation (FTF) said Renard would take charge until the end of Tunisia’s World Cup campaign. “The agreement also stipulates that negotiations will be opened after the World Cup campaign to consider a long-term partnership based ‌on specific sporting objectives,” their statement said.

The country’s state-owned broadcaster Television Tunisienne reported that Renard would arrive in Monterrey later on ​Tuesday to link up with the squad.

Renard, twice an Africa Cup of Nations winner, coached Saudi Arabia at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and led them to a famous victory over eventual champions Argentina in the ⁠group stage. He left to coach the French women’s team at ​the World Cup ​in 2023 and the Paris ​Olympics, before returning to Saudi Arabia and helping the ​men’s side qualify ‌for a third ​successive World Cup. He ​was then replaced by Georgios Donis in the build-up to the tournament.

Renard’s immediate job is to lead the Eagles past Japan in their second match on Sunday which starts by 5am before filing his men against Netherland on June 26 by 12am. Tunisia currently bottom of the Group F table and will need to at least win either Japan or the Netherlands to entertain hope of making it to the knockout stage