Shock World Cup call for Renard to coach Tunisia, Sabri Lamouchi fired
It seems no World Cup is complete without Herve Renard and suddenly, somehow, surprisingly, he will also be at this one.
The suntanned Frenchman in the trademark open-necked white shirt was hired to coach Tunisia on Tuesday for its final two group games following turmoil.
Tunisia fired coach Sabri Lamouchi early Tuesday after the team was routed 5-1 by Sweden in its opening game on Sunday.
So here comes Herve for his third straight men’s World Cup with a third different team. In between times, he also took France to the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Renard’s latest reprieve comes just two months after he was fired by Saudi Arabia despite leading the kingdom through a shaky qualifying program, where it was given home advantage through final rounds.
His finest World Cup hour was guiding the Saudis to a shocking 2-1 win over eventual champion Argentina and Lionel Messi in their 2022 opener in Qatar.
Between men’s World Cups, Renard left Saudi Arabia to coach the France women at their World Cup three years ago and then as the home team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Both ended in quarterfinal exits.
His first World Cup was in 2018 with Morocco, which impressed in Russia with the core of a team that would reach the semifinals in Qatar. However, Morocco under Renard did not advance to the knockout stage from a tough group with Spain, Portugal and Iran.
Renard has yet to lead a team out of the World Cup group stage, which is now his short-term mission that could be all over within 10 days.
His appeal in an emergency to an African soccer federation like Tunisia - now the sixth to hire him - is that he made history winning Africa Cup of Nations titles with two different teams: Zambia in 2012 and Ivory Coast in 2015.
Renard has just four days to get his ideas across before Tunisia faces Japan on Saturday in Monterrey, Mexico.
