Sports
Yasin Ayari brace helps Sweden overwhelm Tunisia
June 14, 2026; Monterrey, Mexico; Sweden’s Yasin Ayari celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Becerril-Reuters via Imagn Images Yasin Ayari recorded a brace, Alexander Isak had one goal and two assists, and Viktor Gyokeres recorded a goal and an assist to help Sweden cruise to a 5-1 victory over Tunisia on Sunday night in World Cup Group F play at Guadalupe, Mexico.
Mattias Svanberg also scored as Sweden took advantage of some sloppy play by Tunisia to win the opening match for both squads.
Omar Rekik scored for Tunisia, who took just two shots from inside the box.
Sweden is the lone unbeaten team in Group F. Japan and Netherlands played to a 2-2 tie earlier Sunday.
Sweden scored twice in the first 30 minutes to take control of the match.
The first strike, coming in the seventh minute, was set up by Victor Lindelof’s long pass upfield. Tunisia goalkeeper Mouhib Chamakh came way out of his area to try to eliminate the opportunity but was unsuccessful and Gyokeres took a left-footed shot that was cleared away by Tunisia’s Montassar Talbi.
The ball caromed beyond the box to Ayari, who sent a right-footed rocket toward the net with only defender Mohamed Amine in the path. Ayari’s shot sailed over the head of Amine and into the net.
In the 30th minute, a counterattack saw Isak receive the ball on the left flank. He maneuvered around Talbi and sent a hard right-footed ground shot that hit off the arm of a diving Chamakh en route to the back of the net and a 2-0 lead.
Tunisia got on the board in the 43rd minute when Hannibal Mejbri delivered a stellar cross that Rekik was able to flick his head on and sent it into the net.
Sweden regained a two-goal lead in the 59th minute due to a mistake in the Tunisia end.
Chamakh lackadaisically sent an underhanded rolling pass toward Ellyes Skhiri that Isak. He tapped it over to Gyokeres, who sent a right-footed shot into the net to make it 3-1.
Svanberg scored off a free kick in the 84th minute. He was initially ruled to be offside but a review displayed that Isak had tipped the ball with his foot before it got to Svanberg — eliminating any offside — and the goal was restored. That tip gave Isak his second assist of the night.
Another Tunisia giveaway gave Ayari a chance in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage play and he drilled a right-footer into the top left corner.
The Swedes outshot Tunisia 13-6, including a 7-2 advantage in shots on target.
Sweden’s Kristoffer Nordfeldt and Chamakh each registered one save.
Sweden will next face Netherlands on Saturday in Houston. Later than night, Tunisia will meet Japan in Guadalupe, Mexico.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Rays avoid sweep with 5-run eighth vs. Angels
Jun 14, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13) celebrates as he scores a run after hitting a two-run home run during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Junior Caminero’s 15th home run of the season triggered a five-run eighth inning as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Los Angeles Angels 8-3 on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.
Victor Mesa Jr. also stroked a two-run homer in the eighth for the Rays, who snapped a 3-3 tie to avoid being swept in the three-game series. The Angels saw their season high-tying four-game winning streak come to a close.
Right-hander Kevin Kelly (4-2) struck out three in two innings to earn the win. He was the third of the Rays’ six pitchers in a bullpen game.
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on Denzer Guzman’s two-out single that drove in Jo Adell.
With one out and the bases loaded in the third, the Angels lost starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to lower back tightness. Chandler Simpson hit a two-out, two-run single off reliever Chase Silseth to give the Rays a 2-1 lead.
Tampa Bay’s Ben Williamson hit his first home run of the season in the fourth to push the lead to 3-1.
Donovan Walton’s first home run as an Angel made it 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, then Adell made it 3-3 with an RBI single. Left-hander Ian Seymour was charged with both runs.
After Caminero’s home run in the eighth, Hunter Feduccia’s single rove in Richie Palacios and Mesa’s second home run of the season made it 8-3. All five runs in the inning were charged to Angels right-hander Sam Bachman (1-1).
The Angels threatened in the bottom of the eighth against Craig Kimbrel when Adell was hit by a pitch and Nolan Schanuel walked to open the inning. Nick Madrigal walked with one out to load the bases.
Reliever Garrett Cleavinger came on and struck out pinch hitters Trey Mancini and Oswald Peraza to end the threat.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ivory Coast break deadlock in 90th minute to defeat Ecuador
June 14, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.; Ivory Coast’s Amad Diallo in action with Ecuador’s Joel Ordonez and Moises Caicedo. Mandatory Credit: Mike Segar-Imagn Images PHILADELPHIA — Substitute Amad Diallo struck in the 90th minute to give Ivory Coast a deserved 1-0 win over Ecuador in both teams’ Group E opener on Saturday night.
Diallo’s first-time strike of Wilfried Singo’s cross gave the Ivorians their first-ever World Cup victory over South American opposition and halted Ecuador’s unbeaten run in all fixtures at 19 matches.
It also put a bow on a 19-year-old Yan Diomande’s dazzling performance as “Les Elephants” pulled even on points with a Germany side that thumped Curacao 7-1 in their opener earlier Sunday.
The promising Ivorians — who have the youngest squad at this World Cup — looked to be running out of ideas before Singo found space surging up the right from his defensive post.
His cross reached Diallo in stride, with the 23-year-old Manchester United charge deftly guiding it into the bottom left corner with the side of his left boot to give the West Africans a dream start to their first World Cup finals appearance since 2014.
Ecuador’s best first-half chances came from Ivory Coast’s casual defending. John Yeboah and Alan Minda struck the bar in the 23rd and 30th minutes, respectively.
But it was the West Africans who looked better in possession, with Diomande terrorizing Ecuador’s left side.
In the 35th minute, he picked up the ball at midfield, beat fullback Piero Hincapie down the line and dragged a cross into the path of Nicolas Pepe’s late run to the penalty spot. Pepe tried to sneak a second touch to get on his favored left foot, seeing his effort ultimately blocked.
In first-half stoppage time, Wilfried Singo nearly turned a spectacular bicycle kick on frame from Guela Doue’s cross.
Ivory Coast started well after the break, but in the 68th minute, a well-struck effort from Ecuador’s Gonzalo Plata forced Yahia Fofana into a comfortable save.
Before that, it was more of Diomande. In the 52nd minute, his cross met Elye Wahi’s angling run, but Wahi’s first-time strike skimmed the crossbar.
And moments after switching to the left flank following two Ivory Coast changes in the 56th minute, he split Yeboah, Alan Franco and Moises Caicedo on his way into the box before firing high.
In a match played within driving distance of more than 600,000 Ecuadorian Americans estimated to live in New York and New Jersey, La Tricolor fans dominated the atmosphere, singing “Vamos Ecuatorianos!” and “Si Se Puede!” from the start and rising to their feet at every Ecuador half-chance.
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
Sports
Giants place RHP Keaton Winn (elbow) on 15-day injured list
Jun 8, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Keaton Winn (67) delivers against the Washington Nationals during the ninth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images The San Francisco Giants placed right-handed reliever Keaton Winn, who pitched on three consecutive days last weekend, on the 15-day injured list on Sunday because of a right elbow strain.
The move is retroactive to last Thursday. In a corresponding move, the Giants recalled right-hander Tristan Beck from Triple-A Sacramento.
Winn, 28, appeared in games on June 6, 7 and 8 — the last going two-thirds of an inning and allowing three runs on three hits to blow a save opportunity in a 4-3 home loss to the Washington Nationals.
San Francisco manager Tony Vitello said Winn felt soreness in the elbow while playing catch on Saturday and had an MRI exam. Vitello said Winn won’t throw for “a handful of days at the most” and doesn’t believe the injury is “anything too crazy.”
“It’s probably best for him to get a reset here,” Vitello said. “I think he’s in a fairly good spot. I think, more than anything, mentally, he’s a little frustrated. He wants to be out there.”
Winn is 2-2 with one save, a 3.23 ERA, nine walks and 26 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings over 29 relief appearances this season.
San Francisco selected Winn in the fifth round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Iowa Western Community College. He missed the 2021 season in recovery from Tommy John surgery, and had season-ending surgery on his right elbow in July 2024.
He is a career 6-13 with two saves, a 5.33 ERA, 39 walks and 118 strikeouts in 138 1/3 innings over 57 games (17 starts) in parts of four seasons since 2023.
Beck, who turns 30 on June 24, has pitched eight innings for San Francisco this season and has a 9.00 ERA with two walks and three strikeouts. He was 2-1 with one save, a 3.91 ERA, nine walks and 23 strikeouts in 23 innings over 17 relief appearances for Sacramento this season.
For his career, Beck is 4-3 with four saves, a 4.18 ERA, 43 walks and 126 strikeouts in 165 2/3 innings over 77 games (five starts) for the Giants since 2023.
–Field Level Media
