Isak Shines as Sweden Dominates Tunisia 5-1

Alexander Isak arrived at this tournament with questions still hanging over him after a bruising first year at Liverpool. Ninety minutes later, those doubts looked embarrassingly outdated.

This was a statement performance. On the biggest stage, against a side that had prided itself on defensive steel, Isak ripped Tunisia apart – scoring a stunning solo goal, forcing errors, and threading himself through almost every decisive moment of Sweden’s 5-1 demolition.

Ayari strikes early against his roots

The tone was set almost immediately.

Seven minutes in, Brighton midfielder Yasin Ayari – Tunisian heritage, Swedish shirt – showed no room for sentiment. A frantic sequence in the box saw Mouhib Chamakh twice deny Isak and Viktor Gyokeres, bodies flying, clearances half-made. The ball squirmed to the edge of the area and Ayari pounced, driving a fierce low strike through the crowd and into the corner.

Tunisia, who had marched into the tournament boasting a miserly defensive record from qualifying, suddenly looked rattled. Lines that had been so compact on paper started to stretch. Sweden sensed vulnerability and pushed.

Isak’s solo masterpiece

The pressure told before the half-hour.

Tunisia committed bodies forward and were punished by a ruthless Swedish break. One vertical ball released Isak down the left and from there it became his personal canvas. He surged into space, cut inside with a sharp feint that left defenders wrong-footed, then wrapped his right foot around the ball, sending a curling shot into the far corner.

It was the kind of finish Liverpool fans had hoped to see more often this past season. Here, in national colours, it looked effortless.

At 2-0, Tunisia’s proud defensive reputation lay in ruins. Their shape disintegrated, their full-backs pinned back, their midfield chasing shadows as Graham Potter’s side played with a clarity and control that fully justified their pre-tournament billing.

Rekik offers Tunisia a lifeline

Just when Sweden appeared ready to run away with it before the break, Tunisia found a pulse.

Hannibal Mejbri, one of the few in red willing to take risks on the ball, produced a teasing cross from the flank. Omar Rekik attacked it with conviction, rising above his marker to guide a firm header past the Swedish goalkeeper.

2-1, right on the cusp of half-time.

For a moment, the narrative shifted. Sweden’s backline, almost untroubled until then, had switched off. Tunisia jogged towards the tunnel with a flicker of belief, the goal offering a sliver of hope that their campaign was not about to unravel on opening night.

High press, higher punishment

Any notion of a Tunisian revival died just before the hour.

Sweden pushed higher up the pitch, squeezing Tunisia into their own third. Isak led the press, snapping at heels, closing angles. Under that pressure, captain Ellyes Skhiri hesitated on the edge of his own box – and paid dearly.

Isak harassed him into a disastrous mistake, the ball spilling loose in the danger zone. It broke perfectly for Arsenal forward Gyokeres, who took a touch, steadied himself and finished with icy calm to restore the two-goal cushion.

3-1, and with it, Tunisia’s resistance broke.

Sweden relaxed without losing their edge. Passes flowed, rotations clicked, and the yellow shirts started to play with the swagger of a side that believes it belongs deep into the knockout rounds.

Svanberg and Ayari finish the job

Potter turned to his bench late on, and the response was instant.

Mattias Svanberg had barely crossed the white line when he added his name to the scoresheet. A clever, subtle flick from Isak inside the area wrong-footed the Tunisian defence, and Svanberg reacted quickest, turning the ball home from close range.

The assistant’s flag went up, but the celebration only paused. VAR replays showed Isak’s touch had actually played Svanberg onside. Goal given. 4-1, the scoreline finally matching Sweden’s dominance.

Tunisia looked beaten, legs heavy, minds elsewhere. Sweden, though, were not done.

Deep into stoppage time, Ayari struck again. A loose ball dropped invitingly at the edge of the box and the Brighton man, already brimming with confidence, seized on it. One clean swing, one more ruthless finish. 5-1. A thumping, and no argument.

Group F picture shifts

By the final whistle, Sweden sat alone at the top of Group F, three points clear after the Netherlands and Japan cancelled each other out in their opener. Goal difference, momentum, belief – all tilted Sweden’s way on the back of this ruthless display.

Next comes a very different test: the Netherlands, wounded by those two dropped points and desperate to reassert themselves in the race for first place. Sweden will walk into that clash with authority and a forward in Isak who suddenly looks like one of the tournament’s headline acts.

For Tunisia, the path is brutally simple. Beat Japan on June 20 or watch the knockout dream slip away far earlier than planned.