{"id":36323,"date":"2026-06-15T14:05:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/swedens-ayali-pays-tribute-to-his-fathers-country-after-scoring-against-tunisia\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:05:25","slug":"swedens-ayali-pays-tribute-to-his-fathers-country-after-scoring-against-tunisia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/swedens-ayali-pays-tribute-to-his-fathers-country-after-scoring-against-tunisia\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden&#8217;s Ayali pays tribute to his father&#8217;s country after scoring against Tunisia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) \u2014 After he scored the first goal. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Sweden beat Tunisia 5-1<\/span> Yassin Ayari chose not to celebrate at the World Cup on Sunday night. Instead, he held up his hand and apologized.<\/p>\n<p>This gesture was a way of paying homage to his heritage.<\/p>\n<p>Ayali, 22, was born in Solna, Sweden to a Tunisian father, Azouz Ayali.<\/p>\n<p>Ayali, who represented Sweden at youth level, was offered the opportunity to switch allegiance and play for Tunisia ahead of the 2022 World Cup, but he declined.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about his son&#8217;s choice to represent Sweden, Azouz Ayari told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet earlier this year that he agreed with the decision.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No, I wanted him to play for Sweden,&#8221; Azouz Ayari said. &#8220;I&#8217;m sure he feels like he&#8217;s giving back to the country that took care of him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Tunisia coach Sabri Lamouchi also offered his support to Ayali.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know him and his brother,&#8221; Ramouchi said. &#8220;He made a decision. I have a lot of respect for him and he&#8217;s a very good player. After the game we wish him the best, but that&#8217;s after the game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the final seconds, Ayari scored the second goal with a long shot into the left corner. He celebrated even more enthusiastically as he slid to his knees toward the Swedish fans behind the goal, cupping his ears with his hands.<\/p>\n<p>Fans certainly believe he made the right decision.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Maya Calder Ramirez is a student at the University of Georgia&#8217;s Carmical Sports Media Institute.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP World Cup: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/world-cup-sweden-yasin-ayari-tunisia-027f07be094e19b0545b788e4121f666\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) \u2014 After he scored the first goal. Sweden beat Tunisia 5-1 Yassin Ayari chose not to celebrate at the World Cup on Sunday night. Instead, he held up his hand and apologized. This gesture was a way of paying homage to his heritage. Ayali, 22, was born in Solna, Sweden to a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sweden&#039;s Ayali pays tribute to his father&#039;s country after scoring against Tunisia - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/swedens-ayali-pays-tribute-to-his-fathers-country-after-scoring-against-tunisia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sweden&#039;s Ayali pays tribute to his father&#039;s country after scoring against Tunisia - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) \u2014 After he scored the first goal. 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