DOHA — Goal hero Mitch Duke said he had a feeling he
would score after his header gave dogged Australia a 1–0 World Cup win over
Tunisia on Saturday to revive their last-16 hopes.
اضافة اعلان
The striker’s clever looped header in Qatar put
Australia in front in the 23rd minute and they desperately held on in the second
half to silence Tunisia’s vociferous fans.
The Socceroos sit second in Group D with three
points from two games, having been well-beaten 4–1 by holders France in their
tournament opener.
They face Denmark — who play France later Saturday —
in their final group game and the knockout round is in sight.
“As a striker you need to have that confidence and
believe that you can score in every match,” said Japan-based center-forward
Duke, 31, whose physical presence was a nuisance all game to Tunisia.
“I actually was messaging some of my family saying
that I was going to score today.”
Australia’s best previous
World Cup performance came
in 2006 when they reached the last 16, in the days of Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell
and Mark Viduka.
Graham Arnold’s Australia don’t have players of that
ilk but they have lots of heart and kicked off to deafening whistles in front
of 42,000 at Al-Janoub Stadium, where their fans were heavily outnumbered.
Each Australia touch was met with whistles from the
throbbing ranks of Tunisia’s bouncing, bellowing, and flag-waving supporters.
Australia had only ever won two matches at the World
Cup before this and squeezed into this edition via a playoff.
But they started the better against a Tunisia team
who held Denmark 0–0 in their opener and are looking to reach the knockout
stage for the first time.
Australia took the lead their possession deserved
midway through the first half.
Craig Goodwin, who scored the opener in the loss to
France, crossed from the left and the ball ricocheted for Duke to glance his
header back over his own shoulder and into the net.
Defender Harry Souttar of Stoke City then made a
heroic last-ditch block from the dangerous Youssef Msakni as half-time
approached.
Tunisia’s fans had
their heads in their hands in injury time when Msakni finally escaped Souttar,
only to side foot wide from close range.
Coach Jalel Kadri brought off defender Mohamed
Drager at the break and replaced him with a midfielder, Ferjani Sassi, and a
match that had simmered up to that point threatened to boil over.
Australia were playing on the break and were inches
away from a second late but Mathew Leckie could not connect on a low cross as
he slid in front of goal.
Minutes later goalkeeper and skipper Mathew Ryan
denied Msakni from close range and Australia just about held on under intense
pressure.
Tunisia’s World Cup campaign is in deep trouble and
they face a daunting task in their final group game after taking just one point
from two matches.
They must beat the defending champions France to
have any hope of progressing.
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