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Jubilant Australians: narrow victory is enough for the round of 16
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NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
At the World Cup in Qatar, the next round of 16 participants have been determined.
In Group D, alongside the already qualified team from France, Australia also secured a place in the knockout stages thanks to a 1-0 (0-0) win over Denmark.
The French, who had changed their team nine positions, lost 0-1 (0-0) against Tunisia.
As group winners, France will meet the runners-up in group C (Argentina, Mexico, Poland or Saudi Arabia) in the round of 16, while the Australians will play against the first in this group.
Tonight Argentina plays Poland, at the same time Mexico meets Saudi Arabia (8 p.m., TV: ZDF).
All four teams can still reach the round of 16.
The Danes had to win to progress.
And they gave it their all: Mathias Jensen had the chance to take the lead from a tight angle in the 12th minute, but Australia keeper Mathew Ryan was able to parry his shot.
As a result, the Danes often came into the penalty area, but initially did not succeed in making dangerous shots.
But the Australians didn't just limit themselves to defence.
The team became bolder towards the end of the first half, and shortly after half-time Jackson Irvine, who plays for FC St. Pauli in the 2nd Bundesliga, had a chance to take the lead, but his shot missed the goal (48').
Mathew Leckie did better in the 60th minute – the Tunisians had just taken the lead in the parallel game.
McGee sent on Leckie, who played two Danes and then put the ball in the bottom right of the goal to make it 1-0.
The French were already confirmed as the round of 16 after the second day of group play.
Coach Didier Deschamps rested many regular players, as previously announced.
There were nine new players in the starting XI, including Bundesliga pros Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich) and Randal Kolo Muani (Eintracht Frankfurt), only captain Raphaël Varane and midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni appeared again.
With the second occupation, the French game showed a clear loss of quality, some players were even used in otherwise unfamiliar positions.
The ball was in France's goal early on: Nader Ghandri held off a free-kick cross and beat substitute keeper Steve Mandanda.
The goal didn't count because it was offside (8').
France hardly had any good attacks, in the 25th minute there was a good chance after a counterattack, but Coman made it difficult for himself with a bad reception of the ball.
Tunisia didn't dominate, but remained more dangerous, for example with a header from Anis Ben Slimane (30') and a long-range shot by Wahbi Khazri (35').
Tunisia celebrates the round of 16, but only briefly
After the restart, the Tunisians claimed a penalty after Tchouaméni risky cleared Khazri in the penalty area, touching both the ball and the opposition.
However, the slight contact was not enough for a penalty kick (48th).
Tunisia could only celebrate after about an hour.
France's Youssouf Fofana lost the ball in the center circle, which went straight to Khazri.
The striker marched towards the penalty area without being really attacked and pushed low into the right corner (58').
Due to the lead, Tunisia was in second place and thus in the round of 16.
But only briefly: two minutes later, Australia took the lead against Denmark and again overtook the Tunisians, who are still waiting for their first place in the round of 16.
When the Australians' game was already over and the Tunisians had already been eliminated from the preliminary round, Antoine Griezmann scored what was supposed to be a 1-1 equalizer for France (90+8).
However, the goal was disallowed because of a previous shove by Kolo Muani against Montassar Talbi.
bka/mrk