Yasin Ayari Scores Twice as Sweden Beat Tunisia 2-0 — Workd Cup

Yasin Ayari scored twice as Sweden beat Tunisia 2-0 at workd cup, and both goals came in the first half. The Brighton midfielder finished the job after Abdelmouhib Chamakh’s mistakes, giving Sweden a clean win and another step in Graham Potter’s revival of the team.

Ayari Punishes Chamakh

The breakthrough came in the sixth minute. Victor Lindelof’s ball over the top forced Chamakh into trouble, Viktor Gyokeres pounced on the error, and Ayari scored the opener.

Sweden kept pressing and Alex Isak added the second after turning inside and striking a low shot. Chamakh was at fault for both goals, and Tunisia never recovered the control they needed.

Potter Sees Progress

Potter called it a solid team performance, and the scoreline backed him up. “Great night, great start,” he said. “It was a solid team performance that allowed Alex [Isak] and Viktor to show their quality.”

He also pointed to the work behind the front line. “They haven’t played that much together and they’ve had to work in training and in bits, and they needed a team to function behind them.”

Sweden’s Turnaround

The result fit a bigger swing in Sweden’s form. They had not won a single game in World Cup qualifying before Potter took over, then beat Ukraine and Poland in the playoffs to reach the finals.

Ayari’s path adds another layer to the win. Born in Stockholm to a Tunisian father, he was urged by his father to hold out for a Sweden call-up when Tunisia tried to select him in 2021.

Tunisia arrived with significant changes, too. Sabri Lamouchi called up 11 players who had not been involved in Morocco, and five of those new arrivals started, but the changes did not stop Sweden from finishing the match with control and a two-goal margin.