If you blinked during the opening minutes in Monterrey, you missed the start of what turned into one of the most one-sided results of the opening round. Sweden didn’t just beat Tunisia in their Group F opener, they put five goals past them, and the way they did it tells you everything about why Graham Potter’s side are being talked about as a genuine dark horse in this tournament.
It took Sweden all of seven minutes to get going. Yasin Ayari, the Brighton midfielder making his World Cup debut, picked his spot from distance with the goalkeeper stranded and three defenders standing on the line, and just like that Sweden were ahead. From there the game settled into a pattern that Tunisia simply couldn’t break. Alexander Isak doubled the lead before half-time, turning in a performance that had his teammates praising his all-around contribution well beyond just the goal he scored himself.
Tunisia did get themselves back into it briefly. Omar Rekik met a cross from Mejbri with a glancing header right on the stroke of half-time to make it 2-1, and for a few minutes you could sense a genuine belief that a comeback was possible. That belief didn’t last long. Viktor Gyokeres restored the two-goal cushion with a clean finish just after the hour mark, and substitute Mattias Svanberg made an instant impact by scoring within seconds of coming off the bench, a goal that briefly looked offside before VAR confirmed Isak had played him onside in the build-up.
Then came the moment that will end up in World Cup highlight reels for years. Deep into stoppage time, Ayari collected the ball from Lucas Bergvall around 25 yards out and hit a shot that flew into the far corner to complete his brace and make it 5-1. It was a stunning way to put the finishing touch on what had already been a dominant performance, and it sent Sweden top of Group F on goal difference.
There was a respectful note to Ayari’s celebrations too. Both of his goals came with muted celebrations, out of respect for his father’s birthplace, a small but meaningful detail in a tournament full of personal stories like this one. On the other side, Tunisia coach Sabri Lamouchi didn’t try to hide his disappointment afterwards, admitting that starting the competition with a result this heavy is genuinely difficult to take, especially against forwards of the calibre Sweden have up top, and that his team made far too many individual mistakes that they’ll need to fix quickly.
The result also has knock-on effects for the rest of Group F. The Netherlands and Japan played out a 2-2 draw earlier on the same day, which means Sweden now sit two points clear at the top after just one round of fixtures, while Tunisia find themselves at the bottom of the group with a goal difference of minus four before they’ve even played their second match.
For anyone trying to keep track of a group stage with this many moving parts across 104 total matches, having a reliable way to watch live is the difference between catching moments like Ayari’s second goal as it happens and reading about it after the fact. A good IPTV subscription gives you access to match broadcasts from multiple countries and commentary languages, which matters a lot when group stage days have three or four games kicking off at once.
Sweden will go into their next group game with real momentum and a forward line that looks capable of hurting anyone in this tournament. Tunisia, meanwhile, have a tournament-defining response to make if they want any chance of climbing back into Group F’s knockout picture. Either way, this is the kind of group that’s worth following match by match rather than waiting for the table to settle on its own.