Yan Valery ends 32-year Sheffield Wednesday drought by making World Cup debut
Yan Valery made his World Cup debut for Tunisia in a 5-1 defeat to Sweden in Mexico on Sunday evening.
Yan Valery became the first Sheffield Wednesday player since John Sheridan in July 1994 to appear at the World Cup after starting Tunisia’s tournament opener against Sweden in Monterrey on Sunday night.
However, it quickly turned out to be a difficult evening for the Wednesday right-back and his teammates as they were beaten 5-1 by Graham Potter’s side at the Monterrey Stadium. Valery started at right-back and stored 72 minutes under his belt before being replaced by Hadj Mahmoud.
Sweden stormed into a two-goal lead inside 30 minutes via goals from Brighton & Hove Albion’s Yasin Ayari and Alexander Isak of Liverpool. Tunisia, though, pulled one back with 43 minutes on the clock, halving the deficit, and Valery played an important role in the goal.
The Owls defender, who spent the second half of the 2025/26 on loan at BSC Young Boys, rolled the ball back to Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri on the right flank and he sent over a pinpoint a cross that found the head of Omar Rekik, who headed home.
Despite starting the second half the brighter, Tunisia conceded for a third time 14 minutes after the break when Viktor Gyökeres slotted home his first goal of the tournament. Mattias Svanberg then scored within 18 seconds of coming off the bench before Ayari smashed home his second of the game in style in injury time to put the seal on a five-star performance.
It marked Tunisia’s heaviest defeat at the World Cup in their history. Their previous biggest defeat was a 5-2 reverse at the hands of Belgium in their second group game at the 2018 World Cup.
On a personal note, Valery, who had never previously appeared at the World Cup, had 35 touches of the ball, completing 78 per cent of his 18 attempted passes. He also won three of his seven ground duels and completed three of his four attempted dribbles.
Elsewhere in Group F, Japan twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with the Netherlands in Dallas. Tunisia are next in action at 5am BST on Sunday morning, taking on Japan at the Monterrey Stadium.