Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres ignited a ruthless offensive display, while Yasin Ayari’s long-range brilliance overwhelmed the Eagles of Carthage in a high-scoring Group F masterclass.
On their return to the World Cup, Sweden defeated a valiant Tunisia side 5-1 in the final opening fixture of Group F.
In complete contrast to the other Group F game, this fixture had a brilliant first half with chances falling for either side.
Inside seven minutes, Sweden took the lead decisively. After Viktor Gyokeres had a shot blocked inside the box, the ball fell to Yasin Ayari outside the box, who smashed the ball towards the top corner to make it 1-0.
Despite being famed for their pragmatism, Tunisia took the game to Sweden by sending multiple players forward in search of an equaliser.
This led to their best chance through Elias Saad, who went on a marauding run towards the box before slipping in Anis Ben Slimane, who sent his shot at the keeper but was offside regardless.
Tunisia's counter-attacks left them vulnerable at the back and were ruthlessly punished by Sweden in the 30th minute. Slimane led an attack for the North African side, but they overplayed and lost the ball, with Gyokeres slipping in his strike partner Isak. The Liverpool man cut inside from the right and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner in an almost trademark finish.
However, the Eagles of Carthage refused to give up and were rewarded with a late-first half goal. An inch-perfect ball whipped in by Hannibal Mejbri found defender Omar Rekik to head it home for his first-ever goal for Tunisia.
In the early parts of the second half, Tunisia huffed and puffed but struggled to penetrate the Swedish defence.
Just on the hour mark, Sweden put the game to bed thanks to a mistake from Ellyes Skhiri, who was caught on the ball by Isak. He played in Gyokeres, who delivered an ice-cool finish to make it 3-1.
After a lengthy VAR review, Matias Svanberg scored with his first touch from a set-piece after the ball was flicked on by Alexander Isak, 12 seconds after coming on. His goal made history as the fastest goal by a World Cup substitute.
The goals continued to flow after another stunning goal from Ayari from range to make it 5-1, to make it a brace on World Cup debut.
Argubaly the best strike duo
While the duo of Isak and Gyokeres looked good on paper, many people held doubts as to whether they would compliment eachother on the pitch. Both strikers love running into space and often cutting in from the left.
There is room for improvement, but the fact that they both assisted one another summarises the clinical performance of the two.
Often, one would drop deeper to collect or hold the ball, while the other charged into space in old-fashioned but effective style.
This was also helped by the way Graham Potter set up his side, which allowed both strikers to drift anywhere across the frontline, with both at times being together on the left or on the right. This opened up space for the likes of Yari and Benjamin Nygren to fill the gaps and attract the defenders to make more space for the strikers.
However, despite this obvious strength, an area of concern will be the defence, which looked shaky at times when Tunisia ran at them. Against better attacks like the Netherlands and Japan, they could be found out.
Tunisia showed fight
Ultimately, they were undone by a lack of quality and mistakes of their own making. However, Tunisia showed a valiant fight. Even when they were a goal or two down they continued to push and never gave up.
While they were famed for their defensive style of play, they surprised the world with their enthusiasm to go forward in numbers.
It is unlikely they will have the same level of opportunities as they did today against the likes of Japan and the Netherlands, but they have clealry can cause chaos and have threatening moments.
What does this mean for the group?
This massive win for Sweden could end up having huge ramifications for the rest of the group.
With a plus-four goal difference, as well as having all three points, they top the group. Due to Japan and the Netherlands drawing, they are clear by two points and could qualify with all but one game wrapped up if they were to win more games.
This result will ramp up the pressure on the other sides to ensure they win all of their fixtures, making the rest of the group stage an interesting proposition to see who will make it.
As for Tunisia, it is difficult to see how they progress, but one thing is for sure, they could cause damage to the rest of the teams' campaigns if they were to take any points away.
