Sweden celebrated a convincing 5-1 (2-1) opening victory against Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico, as reported by Tagesspiegel. The team around star strikers Viktor Gyökeres (FC Arsenal) and Alexander Isak (FC Liverpool) dominated the match from the start and showed attacking flair. For Sweden, it was a return to the World Cup stage after missing the 2022 tournament in Qatar; the Scandinavians last participated in a World Cup in 2018 in Russia.
Yasin Ayari put Sweden ahead in the 7th minute with a stunning strike into the top corner. Half an hour in, Isak doubled the lead after a Gyökeres assist – Tunisia goalkeeper Abdelmouhib Chamakh looked unfortunate on the low shot. Tunisia, with Union Berlin’s Rani Khedira and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Ellyes Skhiri in the starting lineup, fought back: Omar Rekik, who played youth football for Hertha BSC, scored a header in the 43rd minute to make it 2-1.
After the break, Tunisia initially came out stronger, but a serious error by Skhiri halted their comeback. The 31-year-old lost the ball in a duel with Isak just outside his own penalty area, and Gyökeres gratefully made it 3-1 in the 59th minute – a decisive blow. Tunisia never recovered. Substitute Mattias Svanberg of Wolfsburg scored the fourth, before Ayari sealed the 5-1 final score in stoppage time (90+6).
Coach Graham Potter, the Briton on the Swedish bench, praised a cohesive team performance. Sweden exerted plenty of control and capitalized on the individual class of its top strikers. Tunisia, meanwhile, showed spirit but were outclassed. In the strong Group F, the Netherlands and Japan are the other opponents for both teams – they had earlier drawn 2-2.
Source: www.tagesspiegel.de
