Sweden handed Tunisia a 5-1 drubbing in their FIFA World Cup 2026 tie to leave the North African nation’s defensive reputation in tatters and seize control of Group F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasin Ayari opened the scoring early in the Mexican city of Guadalupe with a thunderbolt from distance and Alexander Isak doubled Sweden’s lead in the 30th minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Omar Rekik pulled a goal back shortly before half-time but Viktor Gyokeres restored Sweden’s two-goal cushion. Mattias Svanberg made it 4-1 before another stunner from Ayari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graham Potter’s men took the lead in Guadalupe in the seventh minute courtesy of Brighton midfielder Ayari’s thunderbolt from outside the box, following a mix-up at the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The celebrations of Ayari, who is of Moroccan and Tunisian descent, were muted despite his fine finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sweden doubled their lead on half an hour after a rapid break freed Isak on the left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Liverpool forward raced forward and cut inside before unleashing a shot, which goalkeeper Mouhib Chamakh failed to keep out, even though he got a hand to the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tunisia did not concede a single goal in qualifying, becoming the first side to achieve that feat, subsequently matched by Ivory Coast and England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sweden threatened to overwhelm their opponents but the match changed complexion minutes before half-time when Rekik headed home Hannibal Mejbri’s teasing cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Scandinavian nation restored their two-goal cushion in the 59th minute after another defensive calamity for Tunisia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Midfielder Ellyes Skhiri was caught in possession on the edge of the box by Isak, who fed Viktor Gyokeres and the Arsenal man fired home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Substitute Svanberg made it 4-1 late on after VAR ruled he was onside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there was still time for another stunning goal from Ayari from outside the penalty box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sweden reached the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia but did not qualify for the tournament in Qatar four years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tunisia were the first African team to win a World Cup match when they beat Mexico in 1978, but they have never progressed beyond the group stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in Group F, Japan scored late to draw 2-2 against the Netherlands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sweden handed Tunisia a 5-1 drubbing in their FIFA World Cup 2026 tie to leave the North African<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[430],"tags":[276,63,431],"class_list":["post-13828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-world-cup"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t