Sweden Scores Five Against Tunisia in First Such World Cup Feat Since 1938

Sweden just sent a message to the rest of the World Cup field — and it was loud.

If you tuned into Group F on Sunday night, you watched something genuinely historic. Sweden rolled to a commanding 5-1 win over Tunisia on Sunday night at Monterrey Stadium in Mexico to open the World Cup. That's not just a big scoreline — the blowout win marked the first time since the 1938 tournament that Sweden managed five goals in a World Cup match. Back then, they beat Cuba 8-0. That's 88 years between five-goal performances on the biggest stage in the sport.

The night belonged to one man in particular: Yasin Ayari. Sweden's win featured two superb Yasin Ayari long-rangers that sandwiched goals from Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyökeres, and Mattias Svanberg. Here's what makes Ayari's story even more compelling — he could have suited up for Tunisia, too, as his father is from the African nation, but he opted to stick with Sweden, where he was born. On the night he faced his father's homeland, he put in the performance of a lifetime.

The game's story unfolded in three acts. Sweden jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a dominant 30 minutes or so in the first half while controlling the pace completely. Ayari put Sweden ahead in the seventh minute after goalkeeper Mouhib Chamakh fluffed his lines trying to clear under pressure from Isak — a costly error that set the tone for the entire match. Between goalkeeper Abdelmouhib Chamakh's issues on Sweden's two goals in the first half and captain Ellyes Skhiri turning the ball over and gifting Sweden a third goal in the second half, Tunisia simply couldn't seem to get out of their own way.

Tunisia did pull one back just before halftime. Tunisia pulled one back in the 43rd minute when, following a corner kick, Omar Rekik headed the ball into the net, closing the gap to 2-1. There was a brief moment where it felt like Tunisia might make a match of it — Tunisia had a few good looks early in the second half — but Sweden quickly shut that door. Viktor Gyökeres easily put it in to restore Sweden's two-goal lead in the 59th minute after an easy steal right in front of goal.

Then came one of the wildest individual moments of the tournament so far. Just 12 seconds after entering the match, Mattias Svanberg found the net with his very first touch, converting from close range after being set up by Isak — establishing a new record for the fastest goal scored by a substitute in FIFA World Cup history. Ayari then capped it all off with a second long-range rocket in stoppage time to make it 5-1.

Why does this matter beyond just a big scoreline? Sweden's win has given them the early lead in Group F, thanks to a draw on the other side of the group earlier in the day. Graham Potter's men now lead Group F after Netherlands and Japan drew 2-2 earlier in the day. Sweden controls their own destiny — and they got here the hard way. Sweden failed to win a single game in traditional qualifying, yet was given a lifeline by its progress in the UEFA Nations League, with new manager Graham Potter steering them through the playoffs.

For Tunisia, the road ahead looks very difficult. Tunisia may just want to get on the scoresheet — it had failed to score in its last three games heading in, and its final pre-World Cup friendly ended in a morale-sapping 5-0 defeat to Belgium. Sunday's performance didn't offer many signs of improvement.

Bottom line: Sweden came in as underdogs with something to prove, and they proved it in emphatic fashion. This group just got a lot more interesting.