Tunisia vs Japan

Japan should have had a penalty within 70 seconds when Ueda was clipped by Ellyes Skhiri as he turned inside the box, but Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs waved play on and the VAR declined to intervene. It mattered little. Within four minutes, the Samurai Blue were ahead.

Keito Nakamura drove down the left flank and delivered a low cross into a crowded penalty area. The ball ricocheted off the heel of the unsighted Daichi Kamada and nestled into the far corner — a scrappy finish but a fully deserved opener.

Renard, resplendent in his trademark white shirt just three days after being parachuted in to replace the sacked Sabri Lamouchi, wore a look of bewildered horror on the sideline. His predecessor had been dismissed after Tunisia's 5-1 thrashing by Sweden in Matchday 1, but the early evidence suggested the problems ran deeper than the man in the dugout.

Japan poured forward in waves. Dylan Bronn produced a last-ditch goal-line clearance, and goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen — one of three changes Renard made from the Sweden defeat — clawed away a deflected Takehiro Tomiyasu effort that seemed destined to cross the line. The second goal was inevitable.

It arrived after 31 minutes. Ueda collected the ball in acres of space, ignored Junya Ito's overlapping run, and drilled a low shot through the legs of Montassar Talbi and into the bottom corner. Renard's expression shifted from bewilderment to rueful acceptance.

"We were hoping for a better reaction, a better performance," Renard said afterwards. "Unfortunately the score was heavy, but this reflects the difference between the teams. Today we were lacking good defensive organisation."

Renard shuffled his pack at half-time, introducing Ismaël Gharbi and Mohamed Amine Ben Hmida, and Tunisia showed slightly more defensive rigour in the opening stages of the second half. But the damage had already been done, and Japan looked content to conserve energy against an inferior opponent.

Renard's tactical tweaks unravelled in spectacular fashion in the 69th minute. Ueda flicked the ball through for Ito, who was played onside by Ben Hmida — lingering a full three or four yards behind the rest of the Tunisian defensive line. Ito made no mistake, slotting past Dahmen to make it 3-0.

Renard, incredulous, studied the replay on an iPad and spent the subsequent drinks break staring purse-lipped into the middle distance.

Ueda completed his brace in the 83rd minute with a clever looping header from Kaishu Sano's cross, putting the seal on a thoroughly dominant performance. It was Japan's fourth goal — the most any Asian team has ever scored in a single World Cup match, and the largest victory for an Asian side in the tournament's history.

This was no ordinary group-stage fixture. The 1,000th match in World Cup history began in chilly Montevideo in 1930 with simultaneous kick-offs between France and Mexico, and the United States and Belgium. Ninety-six years later, it arrived in steamy Monterrey with a performance that underscored the shifting power dynamics in global football.

Japan entered the match on the back of an impressive 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, while Tunisia were still smarting from their 5-1 humiliation. Moriyasu made four changes from the Netherlands game — Takefusa Kubo was injured, but the other three were tactical, and they paid off handsomely.

"The players didn't get too caught up in the opponent and were able to fully show what we wanted to do," a delighted Moriyasu said.

The result leaves Japan top of Group F — level on four points with the Netherlands, who also won their second match — and in commanding position to reach the knockout stages for the fourth consecutive World Cup. Tunisia, with zero points and a goal difference of minus-nine, are already eliminated with one group game remaining.

Renard, the hero of African football who won the Africa Cup of Nations with Zambia in 2012 and repeated the feat with Côte d'Ivoire in 2015, may not even see out the final group fixture against the Netherlands on Thursday. Given recent precedent with Tunisian managers, even the 57-year-old's storied reputation may not save him.

"I'm not a magician," Renard had stressed in his pre-match press conference. On this evidence, even magic would not have been enough.