Tunisia boss Sabri Lamouchi concedes that the World Cup defeat to Sweden is ‘painful’

Yasin Ayari, Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres and Mattias Svanberg all found the net as Sweden dominated the North Africans in their Group F encounter in Monterrey, Mexico.

Ayari, whose father is Tunisian-born, opened the scoring at Monterrey Stadium with a superb strike from outside the area. Isak then doubled the lead after a clever turn and pass from his strike partner Gyokeres.

Lamouchi's team pulled one back when Omar Rekik directed Hannibal Mejbri's excellent cross into the net for his first international goal.

However, the second half was all Sweden's. Isak and Arsenal forward Gyokeres scored to make it 4-1, then Mattias Svanberg added another shortly after coming on, before Ayari completed the comprehensive win.

Lamouchi was visibly frustrated at full time, conceding that his side could not recover after making errors that allowed Sweden to take control of the match.

Tunisia made too many errors

“It is a tough defeat. It hurts,” Lamouchi told FIFA.com after the match. “To begin the tournament with such a heavy loss is very hard...

“When you face world-class players like the two Swedish strikers, it is something you cannot recover from. We made far too many mistakes... We have our pride. We must respond. We must show a better side of ourselves.”

Sweden manager Graham Potter credited the win to the individual quality in his squad, while acknowledging that his team were not flawless.

“Individually, they are top players, but together they can pose a real threat. I think they will improve the more they play together. They complement each other very well,” said Potter.

“I am really pleased with the players. We know the quality of the individuals in attack, but they need a team to function. We were not perfect, and we knew we would not be. However, at the start of the match I thought we had good control.”

Tunisia take on Japan next

Tunisia have reached the FIFA World Cup on seven occasions (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022 and 2026). Despite reaching the finals, they have never progressed beyond the group stage.

Nevertheless, they hold a proud place in history as the first African and Arab nation to win a match at the World Cup.

In the 2022 tournament in Qatar, Tunisia put in a spirited display, drawing 0-0 with Denmark and losing narrowly 1-0 to Australia. The Carthage Eagles then pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the competition by beating the defending champions France 1-0.

Despite that historic victory, they were eliminated on goal difference.

Tunisia will now aim to win their remaining two matches to keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages. They take on Japan on 21 June, before finishing their group campaign against the Netherlands on 25 June.