Australia 'Fight Like Kangaroos' To Land First World Cup Win In 12 Years

Australia bagged a famous 1-0 win over Tunisia
12:06, 26 Nov 2022

It’s been a long 12 year wait but Australia finally have another World Cup win after a heroic defensive display earned them a 1-0 win over Tunisia in Group D. That win, thanks to a wonderful header from Mitchell Duke, keeps their hopes of qualification alive with Denmark to come in the last round of fixtures. 

It’s been a long journey to get to this point. The Socceroos have lost six and drawn one since beating Serbia 2-1 in 2010, but now the nation can celebrate a victory on the world stage once again. Harry Souttar and Aaron Mooy in particular were absolutely outstanding as Graham Arnold’s men battled their way to a milestone win. 

Mitchell Duke had his place under question after the France defeat, but he proved his worth by opening the scoring with a delightful header. A deflected cross came in from the left by Craig Goodwin and Duke flicked the ball into the far corner to send the Aussies in the stadium and at home absolutely wild. 

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Boss Graham Arnold said Australia needed to fight like boxing kangaroos ahead of this win and his team lived up to that billing as they took the game to Tunisia, who were slightly tepid in the first half in particular. The Socceroos were right up for it and with Tim Cahill watching on from the stands, landed several key blows on their opponents. 

Their impetus in attack was promising, but it was their desire to defend that will please Arnold most. This was typified just before the break as Harry Souttar managed to preserve Australia's lead with an outstanding block from Mohamed Drager’s close range effort. The Stoke man but everything on the line to deny an almost-certain goal, and roared as he steered the ball away from danger. 

Ellyes Skhiri was tripped up by the referee in a comical moment, but this was serious stuff, as seen on the faces of those in attendance. Wahbi Kazri, Tunisia’s number ten and leading World Cup goalscorer was introduced after the hour mark. But it was Australia who could have doubled their lead as Mathew Leckie almost got on the end of a low cross from Jamie Maclaren. He didn’t need to hit the ball so hard and it was reminiscent of Paul Gascoigne's desperate lunge in the Euro ‘96 semi-final, with Leckie inches away from converting. 

Souttar continued to dominate at the back as he put in a simply heroic performance, but this was the perfect team display from Australia. Shots on goal were few and far between but this Aussie defence held firm. 

Montassar Talbi tried his luck with a long-range well-struck volley before a defensive mistake looked like iit had put TUnisia in on goal. However, that man again Souttar, raced across to  make a superb challenge, before getting in the way of another effort. He only returned to first team football with Stoke on the 8th November after a year out with an ACL injury, but here he was making his name on the biggest stage of all. 

During his recovery, all he could think about was this tournament, having done the injury while playing for his country against Saudi Arabia. 

“When you are injured it’s good to have goals to keep you motivated,” he said back in February.

“A major one for me is to be playing in a World Cup, it would be incredible.”

He was incredible, as was Aaron Mooy in midfield as Australia held on to a vital three points that kept their hopes of progression alive. They face Denmark next and this is a team with a great team spirit as we saw at full-time. Martin Boyle, who has been ruled out for the next year after an ACL injury, was brought into the middle of the huddle by his boss, as Arnold gave a passionate speech to his side. 

This is a major win, but they can make more history against Denmark.

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