Sweden defeated Tunisia 5-1 in their opening Group F match at the 2026 World Cup on June 14 in Monterrey, Mexico [1, 2, 3, 4]. It was the first World Cup meeting between the two teams [4].
Sweden’s goals came from Yasin Ayari, who scored twice, Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres, and Mattias Svanberg [1, 2, 4, 5]. Ayari, of Tunisian descent and a Brighton & Hove Albion player, chose not to celebrate out of respect for Tunisia. His father Azzouz Ayari said his son wanted to play for Tunisia but was persuaded to represent Sweden as "the country that welcomed and developed him" [2, 5, 6].
Tunisia entered the tournament with an unbeaten qualifying record, having won 9 and drawn 1 game without conceding a goal [7, 8]. However, they conceded five goals in their first World Cup match after also conceding five in a 5-0 friendly loss to Belgium, marking a second consecutive heavy defensive defeat [7, 8, 2, 3, 4]. Tunisia coach Sabri Lamouchi blamed "way too many mistakes" for the defeat and said the team must improve to progress [8, 3]. He also noted Tunisia’s strong qualifying defense despite the loss, stating "(That defensive performance in qualifying) shows you're a great side that, above all, defends well as a team" [7].
Sweden coach Graham Potter praised the attacking link-up of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres, who both scored. Potter said, "Alex has had a difficult spell at Liverpool because of injury, but the player doesn't change, his quality doesn't change - he's still a top, top, top player" and added the duo "complement each other very well" [7, 4]. Sweden reached the World Cup through the Nations League playoffs after finishing bottom of their qualifying group [7, 9].
Tunisia, ranked No. 45 globally before the tournament, will next face Japan and the Netherlands in Group F [8, 3, 4].
The two coaches held press conferences on June 13 ahead of the match [7, 9, 8, 4].
