It may have only taken 90 minutes for Sweden to put to rest and doubts from their dismal qualifying campaign as they rose to the top of Group F with an emphatic win over Tunisia.
In the first game, the Netherlands and Japan exploded for four goals in the second half with an 89th-minute equalizer sharing the spoils between the group's top-ranked teams.
SWEDEN 5, TUNISIA 1
Alexander Isak and Victor Gyokeres quickly proved they're one of the best attacking tandems at the World Cup. But it was their teammate Yasin Ayari that started and finished Sweden's magnificent opening match.
A longtime Swedish youth international and born and raised in Sweden, Ayari's parents are Tunisian and Moroccan, so when the young Brighton midfielder polished off a hectic attack just seven minutes in with a long-range curler off a rebound/clearance with the keeper off his line, he chose not to celebrate against one of his ancestral homes.
Isak doubled the Sweden tally on the half hour mark with a long solo run down the left flank and a low finish that eluded Mouhib Chamakh in the Tunisian goal. The Eagles would however claw one back before halftime through Omar Rekik's 43rd-minute redirect of Hannibal Mejbri's cross into the box.
Jake Catanese
Tunisia's hopes were dashed on the hour mark, when Isak picked Ellyes Skhiri's pocket at the top of the box, and Gyokeres swooped in to bury Sweden's third. Mattias Svanberg added a fourth on a darting run and finish aided by the slightest of touches from Isak to negate his initial offside position.
But the night would be capped in a similar way to how it started, with another calamity at the back from Tunisia and another long range effort from Ayari.
first-ever
Everyone knew coming into this game the passing would be fantastic, and the second half did not disappoint after a goalless first forty-five.
Virgil van Dijk opened the scoring with his first-ever World Cup goal, nodding home a header off the far post in the 51st minute from a wonderfully whipped-in ball from Gravenberch on the right wing. Japan's protests of a pushoff to center referee Ismail Elfath were for naught.
Japan would restore order not long after thanks to a powerful near post effort from Keito Nakamura in the 57th minute from the center of the box that took a deflection on the way in and froze Bart Verbruggen in the Dutch net.
The scoreline would not remain level for long, as Crysencio Summerville's curling effort from the top of the box eluded New Jersey-born Zion Suzuki and found the far post and into the net in the 64th. Suzuki (4 saves) kept the Samurai in the match with a massive save at his near post on Cody Gakpo.
Jake Catanese
Japan nearly found another immediate equalizer only to have Takefusa Kubo's long-range shot blaze over the bar in the 67th. The Samurai would get one final flurry in the closing minutes, but Yukinari Sugawara's didn't put full power behind his 80th-minute shot as Verbruggen (1 save) was able to corral.
But in the 89th, Japan would strike again, this time Koki Ogawa rising just far enough through a forest of players to head forward a Junya Ito corner off the top of his teammate Daichi Kamada and into the net. Ogawa wheeled off in celebration, probably not caring that he technically had an assist on the play.
GROUP OVERVIEW
Still, everything to play for in this group, but Sweden has absolutely emerged as someone who can contend for the top spot. That goal difference against Tunisia is something the Netherlands and Japan will have to take note of down the road.
Next up on Saturday is the game that could decide it all now (Netherlands-Sweden). If Tunisia can clean up their mistakes at the back, I do think they can give Japan a very good game but they can't be giving their opponents multiple gifts like that.
UPCOMING MATCHES
Saturday, June 20
Match 33: Netherlands vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. on Fox (Houston)
Match 36: Tunisia vs. Japan, midnight Sun./10 p.m. local Sat. on FS1 (Monterrey, Mexico)
