Isak Shines as Sweden Dominates Tunisia 5-1
Alexander Isak walked into this tournament with questions hanging over him after a bruising first year at Liverpool. He walked out of this game with those doubts scattered all over the pitch.
This was a statement performance. A centre-forward taking control of a group opener and bending it to his will as Sweden ripped Tunisia apart 5-1 to plant a flag at the top of Group F.
Ayari ignores the script
The tone was set almost immediately.
Seven minutes in, Brighton’s Yasin Ayari – Tunisian heritage, Swedish shirt, no room for sentiment – thumped Sweden into the lead. The move was messy, frantic, Tunisia scrambling as Mouhib Chamakh twice denied Isak and Viktor Gyokeres in a penalty-box pinball. The ball squirmed out to the edge of the area.
Ayari didn’t hesitate. One touch to set, one vicious strike, and the net bulged. Any talk of divided loyalties ended right there.
Tunisia had arrived with a reputation: organised, stubborn, miserly in qualifying. Within half an hour, that image lay in pieces.
Isak takes over
The second goal was pure transition football, and pure Isak.
Sweden broke at speed, the ball released early into space down the left. Isak took off, gliding rather than sprinting, but leaving white shirts in his wake. He cut inside with a casual drop of the shoulder, defenders sliding past him, and opened his body.
One curling finish, far corner, beyond the goalkeeper’s reach. Clinical. Cold. The kind of goal that announces a striker to a global audience.
Tunisia looked stunned. The defensive shape that had carried them here suddenly full of holes, their back line chasing shadows and yellow shirts.
Tunisia’s brief lifeline
Just when the game threatened to run away from them completely, Tunisia found a foothold.
Moments before half-time, Omar Rekik climbed above everyone to meet a superb cross from Hannibal Mejbri. The delivery begged to be attacked; Rekik obliged, powering his header past the keeper and punishing a rare lapse in Sweden’s otherwise controlled backline.
At 2-1, the mood shifted. Tunisia jogged down the tunnel with a sliver of belief, Sweden with a reminder that this level offers no free rides, no matter how dominant the opening spell.
That was as close as Tunisia would get.
High press, higher price
The second half opened with Sweden tightening the screw. The press moved 10 yards higher. The tackles bit harder. Tunisia’s defenders and midfielders suddenly had no time to breathe, let alone build.
On 59 minutes, the pressure broke them.
Isak hunted down captain Ellyes Skhiri on the edge of the Tunisian box, snapping into the challenge and forcing a disastrous mistake. The ball spilled loose, straight into the path of Arsenal forward Gyokeres.
One touch to steady himself, one ruthless finish. 3-1. Any lingering tension in Swedish minds disappeared with the ball into the net.
From that moment, Sweden started to play like a team that believes it can go deep in this tournament. The passes sharpened, the combinations grew bolder, the tempo barely dipped.
Svanberg’s instant impact, VAR drama, and Ayari at the double
The scoreboard didn’t flatter them; it simply caught up.
Late on, Mattias Svanberg arrived from the bench and needed only seconds to leave his mark. Isak, again central to everything, produced a delicate flick inside the area. The ball ran perfectly into Svanberg’s path and he swept it home.
The assistant’s flag went up, briefly muting the celebrations. Then VAR stepped in. Replays showed Isak’s touch had actually played Svanberg onside. Goal given. 4-1, and the gulf between the sides finally reflected in numbers.
Sweden were not done.
Deep into stoppage time, Tunisia failed to clear their lines and Ayari, alive to every second ball all night, pounced on a loose one. Another crisp finish, his second of the evening, completed the 5-1 rout and underlined the dominance of Graham Potter’s side.
Group F takes shape
By the final whistle, Sweden stood alone at the top of Group F, three points clear after the Netherlands and Japan cancelled each other out in their opener. Goal difference, confidence, momentum – Sweden own all of it right now.
Tunisia, by contrast, stare at an uphill climb. One game in, their defensive aura has vanished, and their margin for error has gone with it.
Next comes a heavyweight clash: Sweden against the Netherlands on June 20, a meeting that could go a long way to deciding who finishes first. The Dutch will know they cannot afford to drift through another 90 minutes after dropping points to Japan.
For Tunisia, Japan now feels like a must-win just to keep the knockout dream alive.
As for Isak, he heads into that showdown having turned a difficult Liverpool debut season into distant noise. On this evidence, defenders in Group F – and beyond – have far bigger problems to worry about.
