RIYADH: “My son wanted to play for Tunisia, but I asked him to represent Sweden instead, as it is the country that welcomed and developed him,” said Yasin Ayari’s father, Azzouz, in May in an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
“It was his duty to give something back.”
And give back he did.
Ayari took just seven minutes to open his World Cup account with Sweden, picking the ball up outside the area before unleashing a belter into the far corner.
Yet despite the stunning effort, Ayari held his hands aloft, refusing to celebrate despite the swarm of yellow and blue that engulfed him. The young midfielder had just scored against the very team that had courted him for years.
