Australia stun Denmark to reach last 16, France lose
Australia beat Denmark 1-0 on Wednesday to reach the last 16 of the World Cup for just the second time in their history while holders France won the group despite an upset defeat to Tunisia. Mathew Leckie's superb 60th-minute goal, twisting and turning to shake off the Danish defenders, was enough to lift the Australians into second spot in Group D and earn them a meeting with the winner of Argentina's Group C. Australia coach Graham Arnold said he was "just so proud of the effort by the boys" after they qualified for the knockout stage for the first time since 2006. "It was a short turnaround but their effort was incredible. A lot of belief, a lot of hard work," Arnold said. "These boys came in with a great mindset. We've been working on this for four, four-and-a-half years about the belief, the energy and the focus. I could see in their eyes they were ready tonight." After two wins out two, France were already assured of a place in the knockout round at kickoff so coach Didier Deschamps made nine changes to his starting lineup to play Tunisia, leaving stars including Kylian Mbappe among the substitutes. Facing a second-string French team, Tunisia stunned the holders 1-0 when captain Wahbi Khazri stretched to poke the ball past French goalkeeper Steve Mandanda after 58 minutes at the Education City Stadium. Deschamps responded by sending on five substitutes, including Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann. Tunisia stood firm but Griezmann finally had the ball in the net eight minutes into added-on time, driving in a shot through a crowd of defenders. But just when France thought they had salvaged a point, New Zealand referee Matthew Conger was called over to the VAR monitor and ruled the goal out for offside. So the north Africans' supporters counted down the final seconds to a famous victory over France that will go some way to making up for their elimination. (AFP)