Australia beat Denmark 1-0 to advance to the knockout stage of Qatar World Cup. The win also ended Denmark’s journey in the tournament.
Australia had advanced past the group stage once, losing to Italy 1-0 in the round of 16 at the 2006 World Cup.
Denmark, on the other hand, had qualified for the round of 16 four times (in 1986, 1998, 2002 and 2018). They progressed the farthest in 1998, when they made it to the quarterfinals.
In the World Cup clash earlier today, Australia were on their customary yellow and green uniform, whereas Denmark started out in an all-red outfit and was playing right to left.
Denmark set-up offensively like advancing more numbers would be the best way to solve their scoring issues.
Skov Olsen, who was running onto a cutback from the right side of the Danish attack, attempted to score in the 12th minute, but Australian defenders rushed in and stopped his effort.
Following a long pass, Jensen forced Ryan to make a terrific stop, but he palmed it over for a corner.
Since the game’s opening kickoff, practically the whole match has been played in their third of the field as Denmark gradually applies pressure against their opponents.
Eriksen attempted a long-range free kick, but Denish players were called back for being offside.
After hardly touching the ball for the first 20 minutes, Australia started to get into it in the last minutes of the first half.
As the game progressed, Australia maintained prolonged possession in the Danish half. Duke took another shot from a tight angle which was directed at Schmeichel.
Both teams had their chances, but neither team was able to score, therefore the shooting portion of the game could have used a little improvement.
Although they had a far better start than their opponent, Denmark had to defend much more as the game progressed.
Sadly, neither team had many significant chances in the first 45 minutes. Not for lack of attempting either.
Even while it did decrease following those initial exchanges, Denmark’s possession share only fell to 66% for the duration of the first half.
Denmark started Martin Braithwaite right away, and he was the only player on the field to generate more than one chance in the first half.
Australia got us going again in the second half by playing left to right during that time.
Alexander Bah replaced Kristensen for the Danes, and Keanu Baccus replaced Goodwin for Australia.
In the first five minutes of the half, nobody was able to keep possession of the ball for very long.
We anticipated Denmark to advance if the situation persisted.
Australia has only made it to the last five World Cups, and only once have they advanced past the group stage, losing to eventual champions Italy in the round of 16 in 2006.
Given the circumstances at Euro 2020, it was still a beautiful sight to see Christian Eriksen playing for Denmark on the largest stage in the world.
Australia’s Leckie scored in the 60th minute as Denmark continued to press but Australia intercepted and advanced!
Leckie, who was in acres and bursting a gut from the midway line, received a feed from McGree along the inside-left channel.
Before weaving a beautiful shot across Schmeichel and into the bottom right, Leckie twists Maehle in several directions.
Braithwaite and Jensen both exited the field of play when Denmark substituted Dolberg and Damsgaard in a last-ditch effort to make a point.
In the 65th minute, Denmark made an attempt to reply by winning a corner to the right.
Irvine quickly cleared Eriksen’s delivery after it had been floated in.
Since the beginning of the second half—actually, since the closing few seconds of the first half—Australia has excelled.
Eriksen raked another Danish corner, this one coming from the left, but Andersen headed harmlessly wide to the right.
The second half was toothless for Denmark, so they made another double substitution to liven things up.
For Maehle and Skov Olsen, Cornelius and Skov came on.
After a scuffle, Kasper Dolberg fell to the ground in the box in the 71st minute, and it appeared that Mustapha Ghorbal would award Denmark a penalty and a World Cup lifeline.
But because Dolberg had been correctly called offside, Australia was awarded a free kick and an opportunity to clear.
Due to their complete lack of involvement in this World Cup, Denmark did nothing to help their team win the match.
Baccus was able to advance and fire a 30-yard blast that Andersen diverted away from harm because possession was poorly shipped.
Australia was beginning to realize they were on the verge of history, as evidenced by the energy around the field and the players’ body language.
Denmark had struggled to produce much of any quality thus far in the game, and perhaps not much either in their previous two matches.
When the whistle blows, Australia was duly awarded passage! Denmark performed pretty poorly at this World Cup and have been eliminated earlier than expected.
Australia made World Cup finals history by becoming the first team to win back-to-back games.
And on cue, France scored an equalizer against Tunisia in the 98th minute. So even a draw would have been acceptable in the end for Australia.
