Yellow tide rolls on: Sweden fan march
If Sweden's players announced themselves in Monterrey, so did their supporters. The Sweden fan march, a beloved tournament ritual, made its men's World Cup return: a sea of yellow descending on the Estadio BBVA behind drums, flags, and one fan dressed as Pippi Longstocking.
A favourite chant boasts of coming from Svealand with 100,000 men. The reality was a few thousand strong, but no less joyous, with men, women, and children from Stockholm to Gothenburg. The giant drum at the centre of it all was flown over thanks to roughly $1,000 of fan donations.
From Svealand with 100,000 men
There was local affection too: a Mexican supporter in a hybrid Mexico-Sweden shirt, and Nuevo Leon's governor turning up in Blagult yellow. He later claimed the sombrero he handed Viktor Gyokeres had brought the striker good luck.
In a poignant moment, the marching Swedes also paused to embrace local residents protesting the disappearance of loved ones to cartel violence. Today, the yellow tide rolls into Houston.
The tech that saved Sweden's fourth goal
That disallowed-then-allowed Mattias Svanberg goal against Tunisia offered a glimpse of the World Cup's new technological frontier. When the offside flag went up, it was the ball itself that rescued the goal. Adidas' Trionda contains a 500Hz motion sensor, developed with FIFA and German firm Kinexon, that registered a faint touch off Alexander Isak, proving he had flicked on Yasin Ayari's free kick and left Svanberg onside.
To show it, FIFA borrowed a trick from cricket, displaying a snicko-style graphic: a cardiac monitor-like line with a tell-tale spike at the moment of contact. It is the same logic that denied Cristiano Ronaldo a goal against Uruguay in 2022, when no heartbeat could be detected on the ball.
No heartbeat
Ayari and Isak's standout performances
Ayari's performance against Tunisia earned him a place in the latest list of the 50 best players at the World Cup, alongside team-mate Isak.
Yasin Ayari's stunning opening game
It took only seven minutes for Yasin Ayari to announce his talent to this tournament. Close observers of Sweden will recall him starring in the UEFA play-off final win over Poland that secured his side's ticket to North America. Premier League fans may have noted his displays at Brighton.
But to neutrals, his ability for the spectacular was there for all to see against Tunisia, the nation of his father's birth. The midfielder seized on a ball punched from the Tunisian area, took one touch, and then unleashed a venomous shot that curled into the net. For good measure, he scored his side's final goal in added time too.
Isak, rediscovered, and now facing Van Dijk
For Alexander Isak, the Tunisia game felt like a release. A goal, two assists, the Player of the Match award, and a first full 90 minutes since October: this was the £130million ($176m) striker resembling his old self after a season at Liverpool where little went right.
Crucially, he kept finding space, driving into the left channel for his goal, dropping into pockets, even causing the chaos without a touch that teed up Ayari's opener. That was the very room he rarely found behind the low blocks he met at Liverpool. His reward is coming up against his club-mate Virgil van Dijk.
