MONTERREY, Mexico June ⁠14 (Reuters) - Tunisia coach Sabri Lamouchi said his ⁠side had been punished for a string ‌of costly mistakes in Sunday's 5-1 defeat by Sweden, and warned that such errors could prove fatal for their ​chances at the World Cup.

• "It's ⁠a difficult loss. It's ⁠painful. Starting the competition with this bad of ⁠a ‌loss is indeed difficult," Lamouchi told the post-match news conference.

• Lamouchi said Tunisia ⁠knew the threat posed by Sweden's forwards ​but failed ‌to cope with it. "With world-class players that ⁠we have ​in the two Swedish forwards, it's something that you don't recover from."

• He repeatedly pointed to ⁠individual errors as the main reason ​for the heavy defeat. "We made way too many mistakes," he said.

• Lamouchi said he felt Tunisia ⁠had shown signs of improvement after the break before further mistakes derailed their comeback hopes.

• Tunisia will face Japan and the Netherlands in their ​coming Group F fixtures, and ⁠Lamouchi said his team had little choice but ​to respond. "We have our pride. ‌We need to react. ​We need to give a better image."

(Reporting by Hatem Maher; Editing by Peter Rutherford)