In Group D featuring Denmark, France, Australia and Tunisia, the match between Australia and Denmark saw Australia securing a historic victory to qualify for the round of 16.
In the other match, Tunisia also secured a great victory over France 1-0 but ended up third in the group; as Denmark and Tunisia bowed out of the World Cup.
With France already into the round of 16, all the three other teams went into the matches with chances of qualification into the next round.
Australia has played in every world cup since 2006 but won only two matches out of the last 17 world cup matches.
Australia scored by a great play by Mathew Leckie in the 60th minute, when he made a perfectly timed run and then beat the defender before sending a low shot across goal to the left of Danish keeper Schmeichel in full stretch.
Not a bad time to score your first #FIFAWorldCup goal ✨#FIFAWorldCup | #AUS pic.twitter.com/CxptCEiF33
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 30, 2022
Denmark, in desperate need for a victory kept on pushing forward.
In the 71st minute, they were awarded a penalty by the main referee when Dolberg was fouled inside the penalty box. However, as the main referee pointed to the spot, his assistant in the line raised his flag for offside. The referee ruled that the offside was committed before the foul and hence, the penalty did not take effect.
Towards the end, Denmark’s Cronelius had two great chances from close range but could not find the target as Australia earned a great victory.
Had Denmark equalised, both Denmark and Australia would have been out of the World Cup.
Australia had lost to France in the first match but with a victory against Tunisia had three valuable points going into their final match against Denmark.
In the other match, Tunisia took the lead against France when Wahbi Khazri navigated through three defenders before sending a perfect weighted shot into the left corner.
With Australia and Denmark still 0-0 at that moment, Tunisia for a brief moment climbed to the second spot in the table.
France had started the match with nine changes in the team and with stars like Mbappe, Griezmann and Dambele benched amongst others.
Going out on a high 🫶🇹🇳#FIFAWorldCup | #TUN pic.twitter.com/LIPCoO1852
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 30, 2022
Griezmann found the net deep into the extra time around the 90’+08’. However, he was dramatically ruled offside as Tunisia secured a famous victory over the defending World Cup champions France.
