Yasin Ayari has had limited playing time at Brighton this spring. If he continues to play like he did in his World Cup debut, the club will probably be happy to keep him after the summer.
He made it 1-0 in the seventh minute. He scored another goal to make it 5-1 in the 96th and final minute.
The 22-year-old from Solna is not a man of big words or gestures. But it’s still clear that this was a special international match for him.
No celebration
Scoring twice on your World Cup debut, against your father’s home country Tunisia, is something special.
Two goals in my World Cup debut – it’s incredible, actually, says Yasin Ayari.
After the first goal, he raised his hands in an apologetic gesture.
I didn’t celebrate. But I was incredibly happy. It’s my second country, after all. There were a lot of emotions before the match.
His father, Azzouz, told Aftonbladet that his son was offered a place in the Tunisian World Cup squad in 2022 if he changed national teams.
“A party out there”
But Ayari stuck with Sweden and was rewarded with an unforgettable football evening in Monterrey.
It means a lot. I’m happy with my individual performance. But I’m thinking, above all, about the team. I’m happy that we were able to win the game, but if we had won and I hadn’t scored any goals, I would have been just as happy.
When he scored Sweden’s fifth goal well into added time, he also deprived himself of the chance to celebrate a little more. Nights like this don’t come around very often.
It was incredible. It was a party out there. When you look around and the whole audience is singing and dancing, that’s how you remember it from when you were little watching TV.
Sweden, the sole group leader with three points, will next face the Netherlands in Houston on Midsummer’s Day.
