How did Australia get to the round of 16?
With an iron defense and a lethal counterattack, Australia achieved a historic qualification to the round of 16 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup on Wednesday by beating Denmark 1-0 and taking second place in Group D.
Those led by Graham Arnold finished with six points in the key, the same as France, who lost to Tunisia 1-0 and came first on goal difference (3 against minus 1).
I feel so proud of the effort they put in. It was really amazing,” Arnold celebrated. “This is the fruit of a lot of hard work, of believing in what we do,” he added.
Tunisia finished third with four points and Denmark last with one unit.
Thus, the Socceroos equaled their best ever performance in a World Cup, the second round achieved by the golden generation of Australian soccer of Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill in Germany-2006.
Mathew Leckie on sixty minutes, with a superb counter-attack, scored the historic Aussie victory at the Al Janoub Stadium, in the picturesque coastal area of Al Wakrah, south of Doha, in front of 41,232 spectators.
“In those moments (when I was going towards the Danish goal) you don’t think much, you don’t have time to think, you know that everything happens very quickly”, explained the scorer of the night. “Low and strong (he finished off), it’s difficult for a goalkeeper to take a shot like that, and as soon as I saw the ball go into the goal I felt very happy and excited.”
Denmark, which only served victory to continue in the race, had only been eliminated in the group stage of a World Cup in South Africa-2010 in its six previous participations.
Australia will play in the round of 16 on Saturday from 19:00 GMT at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Doha, against the leaders of Group C, which was later defined between Poland (4 points), Argentina (3) and Saudi Arabia (3 ). Mexico, with one point, can no longer win the series.
The defending champion, France, will do so on Sunday from 15:00 GMT against the second in bracket C at the Al Thumama stadium.
Denmark took control of the match from the start, needing a win to stay in Qatar, while the Socceroos stood in their own half ready to resist and wait for their chance.
Australia held firm with a 4-4-2 in which the midfield line was close to the defense, so as not to leave spaces between the lines.
And when the Scandinavians managed to overcome the oceanic defensive bolt, goalkeeper Mathew Ryan appeared to thwart any attempt.
Ryan, 30, has been playing for FC Copenhagen in the Danish league since this season.
At 11 minutes, in the best chance of the first stage, he deflected over the crossbar a violent shot at the near post by midfielder Jensen, who unexpectedly broke away from his area and appeared on the right of the attack.
Eight minutes later, Ryan saved his fence again by kicking away a deadly cross from left-back Maehle, who won the line and was looking for Martin Braithwaite in the penalty area.
With Pierre Hojbjerg and captain Christian Eriksen on the ball, Denmark continued to search for a gap to get to Ryan, but Australia’s staunch defense kept them from doing so.
Eriksen, back on the top stage after the cardiac arrest that almost cost him his life a year ago at the Eurocup, was looking to connect with former Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite, absorbed by the opposing defense.
In the second half, the Danish dominance increased and the Socceroos did not leave their field.
But at 58 minutes the alarms sounded. In the other game of the series Kazrhi opened the scoring for Tunisia and the North Africans climbed to second place in the group, eliminating Australia and Denmark.
But two minutes later Leckie, a 31-year-old midfielder for his country’s Melbourne City, appeared to carry out his masterpiece.
After a corner from the Danish team, the Australian defense parried and the ball went to Leckie in the middle of the field.
He shot off, made a double dribble to the full-back Maehle, who had been left as the last man, and finished off a cross with his left foot and close to beat goalkeeper Casper Schmeichel, who until then had been a mere spectator.
There the Danish illusions and those of Tunisia died, which despite its great 1-0 victory over France also left empty-handed.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
