Celebrations started back home as soon as Mathew Leckie handed Australia the lead againt Denmark at the hour-mark in their last group D fixture at the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday.
Fans stayed up till the wee hours of the morning to party at the Fed Square in Melbourne.
“I think in those moments you don’t think too much, you don’t have time to think, you know it all happened so fast. It was a great ball and I had one more man to beat,” said Leckie, describing his goal.
“Low and hard, it’s difficult for a keeper to save and as soon as I saw it was going in I was so excited and so happy.
“I think by the celebration you can see how much emotion there was. I’m just so proud you know, we’ve worked so hard…. My first World Cup is probably one of the most important goals for me and for the team.”
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The other result in the group, Tunisia’s hostoric win over France did not matter.
A 58th minute goal from Wahbi Khazri helped Tunisia inflict a first-ever defeat on defending champions France but the win was not enough to see them to the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup as Australia piped them to the qualifying post.
Khazrei’s goal went in vain as the Socceroos’ made it at the expense of the North Africans from Group D.
At the Janoub Stadium, Australia defeated Denmark 1-0 and made it to the knockout stage from the group along with France.
France started the World Cup in fine fashion, picking up six points from their first two games and scoring six goals in the process and inspite of Wednesday’s loss to Tunisia finished as group leaders ahead of Australia.
Both Australia and France finished with six points from two wins, while Tunisia took the third spot with four points from one win and one draw against Denmark, which finished at the bottom with one point.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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