Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres were in fine form as Sweden cruised to a comfortable 5-1 victory against Tunisia to kickstart their World Cup campaign in Group F.
Brighton’s Yasin Ayari scored the pick of the goals with two stunning long-range strikes – on either side of the game in the sixth and 96th minutes – but the performances of Sweden’s star forwards put the fixture firmly in their control.
Shortly after Ayari’s first, with his celebrations muted out of respect for the birthplace of his father and a country he could have represented, Isak doubled Sweden’s lead in the 40th minute.
Gyokeres laid the ball off to the Liverpool striker near the halfway line before he drove forward, cut in on his right foot and slotted the ball into the bottom-right corner.
Omar Rekin halved the deficit for Tunisia just before the break with a glancing header to spark hopes of a comeback (43) but Gyokeres’ fine finish quickly restored the two-goal lead (59) after Isak turned provider on this occasion.
Substitute Mattias Svanberg, 18 seconds after coming on, then swept a fourth into the back of the net for Sweden as time ticked down (84). The offside flag initially went up, but a lengthy VAR review revealed a slight touch from Isak meant the midfielder had returned to an onside position.
A second stunner from Ayari, with this effort too good to mute his celebrations, then rounded off the dominant performance for Graham Potter’s side.