Sweden didn't just win their World Cup opener — they buried Tunisia 5-1 in Monterrey, with Yasin Ayari bagging a brace and Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres both on the scoresheet.
Sweden 5, Tunisia 1. That's the result, and the scoreline does the talking. Ayari opened the door in the 7th minute, Isak doubled it on 30, and after Omar Rekik pulled one back for Tunisia in the 43rd, Sweden just kept piling on. Gyökeres made it 3-1 on 59, sub Mattias Svanberg got the fourth in the 84th, and Ayari closed his brace deep into stoppage time. Graham Potter's side were sharper, meaner, and more clinical in every third.
Tunisia4-2-3-1
Sweden3-4-1-2
Starting 11s.
Ayari was the man of the night. His first was a clean finish with the keeper stranded, his second a strike from the edge of the box to put a bow on it. Isak and Gyökeres looked like they'd been playing together for years, swapping passes and chances around the Tunisia box. Svanberg's cameo was the kicker — on the pitch, on the scoresheet, almost in the same breath.
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Advance
Total
Sweden(1-0-0)
5
-0.5
-102
-102
o2.5
+130
Tunisia(0-0-1)
1
+0.5
+104
+388
u2.5
-130
In-Game
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Advance includes extra time & pens; spread + total settle on 90 minutes.
The market had Sweden as a clear but not crushing favorite — closer to a coin flip with the draw very much in play than a beatdown. A 5-1 was nowhere on the menu. Pre-kickoff Polymarket had Sweden around 50% to win, Tunisia barely a 1-in-5 shot, and the total set at 2.5 with the under as the slightly favored side. Four Sweden goals after halftime laughed at all of it.
The group board now leans Dutch — Netherlands sit on top after their 2-2 draw with Japan earlier in the day — but Sweden are firmly in the conversation as the second team, with a goal-difference cushion nobody else in the group has. Tunisia's path is brutal. The post-match market gives them an 8% shot at the round of 16, and the math doesn't get easier from here.
Next up Sweden need to keep the foot down against the Netherlands and Japan, where the goals won't come this easy. Tunisia have to regroup fast, find a defensive shape that doesn't crumble after halftime, and hope results elsewhere break their way. On this evidence, that's a tall ask.
France0-3
Japan1-1
Netherlands1-5
Tunisia5-1