After Bruno Guimaraes helped Brazil fight back to a 1-1 draw against Morocco on Saturday, it was the turn of another Newcastle United trio of players to see their countries kick off World Cup campaigns.
At the Monterrey Stadium (pictured above), Sweden faced Tunisia at 3am Monday morning (UK time).
The Swedes starting in the best possible fashion.
Premier League players at the forefront as Brighton’s Ayari scored in the 7th minute and 96th minute.
With Alexander Isak of Liverpool getting the second and Arsenal’s Gyokeres scoring the third.
Wolfsburg star Svanberg getting the fourth goal for Sweden. Tunisia had been given brief hope when Omar Rekik brought it back to 2-1 but the result never in doubt.
The modern day ridiculous thing of not celebrating scoring a goal against a team you formerly played for took an even more ridiculous step further. Yasin Ayari (pictured below) refused to celebrate when he scored his first ever World Cup goal against Tunisia because that is the country where his father was born…
When it came to goal assists there were four registered from Sweden players with Bergvall, Gyokeres and Isak (2) supplying them.
As for Newcastle United’s Anthony Elanga, he got his first ever minutes at a World Cup finals but they were only a handful, replacing Alexander Isak in the 91st minute when the score was 4-1.
It was still a handful of minutes more than Nick Woltemade and Malick Thiaw enjoyed on Sunday.
The Newcastle United duo watched the entire match from the bench as Germany smashed Curacao 7-1.
Nmecha, Schlotterbeck, Havertz (2), Musiala, Brown and Undav with the goals for Germany, Curacao had been given false hope when making it 1-1 on 21 minutes.
With the top two in every group progressing and the best performing eight teams of the twelve who finish third placed in their groups, it means Elanga, Woltemade and Thiaw are already on the brink of seeing their countries move through to the last 32.
The 2026 World Cup group games schedule for Newcastle United players:
Saturday 13 June
Morocco 1 Brazil 1 (Bruno Guimaraes assist for Vinicius Jnr equaliser)
Sunday 14 June
Curacao 1 Germany 7 (Malick Thiaw and Nick Woltemade unused subs)
Monday 15 June
Tunisia 1 Sweden 5 (Anthony Elanga introduced in the 91st minute when Sweden led 4-1)
Wednesday 17 June
Portugal v DR Congo (Yoane Wissa) World Cup group match 6pm BBC
Croatia v England (Dan Burn, Tino Livramento) World Cup group match 9pm ITV
Saturday 20 June
Haiti v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) World Cup group match 1.30am ITV
Ivory Coast v Germany (Malick Thiaw, Nick Woltemade) World Cup group match 9pm ITV
Netherlands v Sweden (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group match 6pm BBC
Tuesday 23 June
Ghana v England (Dan Burn, Tino Livramento) World Cup group match 9pm BBC
Wednesday 24 June
Scotland v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) World Cup group match 11pm BBC
Colombia v DR Congo (Yoane Wissa) World Cup group match 3am ITV
Thursday 25 June
Ecuador v Germany (Malick Thiaw, Nick Woltemade) World Cup group match 9pm BBC
Friday 26 June
Japan v Sweden (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group match 12am BBC
Saturday 27 June
Panama v England (Dan Burn, Tino Livramento) World Cup group match 10pm ITV
Sunday 28 June
Uzbekistan v DR Congo (Yoane Wissa) World Cup group match 12.30am BBC