Tunisia exited the 2026 World Cup with three defeats as the Netherlands topped Group F.
Early goals set the Netherlands on their way to topping Group F with a comfortable victory over Tunisia. Former RB Leipzig striker Brian Brobbey scored his third goal of the tournament as the Netherlands scored twice inside the first ten minutes.
Tunisia’s skipper Ellyes Skhiri beat his own goalkeeper in the third minute from a cross by Real Madrid’s new signing Denzel Dumfries. Eintracht Frankfurt’s midfielder had a torrid time in the tournament as his mistakes already led to goals against Sweden and Japan.
It was the 12th own-goal of the tournament, which tied the previous World Cup record set in 2018. The Eagles of Carthage pulled one back ten minutes after the restart as Hazem Mastouri scored on his World Cup debut for their second goal of the tournament.
Ronald Koeman’s side quickly regained their two-goal lead with another strike from set-piece play. Jan Paul van Hecke’s first international goal, which could be counted as another own-goal after review, helped the Netherlands join Germany as teams to score double-digit goals so far in the competition.
Meanwhile, Tunisia conceded the most goals, 12, averaging 4 per game. Union Berlin’s German-born midfielder Rani Khedira and Augsburg’s Ismaël Gharbi also started the game for Tunisia. Augsburg’s attacker Elias Saad, who spent the second half of last season at Hannover, was an unused sub after starting the previous matches.
The Netherlands will face another North African team in the Round of 32 as they will play against Morocco in Guadalupe. The winners will clash with either Canada or South Africa in the Round of 16.
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