The Socceroos of Australia finally ended a 12-year wait for a World Cup win with a narrow 1-0 victory against Tunisia at the Al Janoub Stadium, Qatar.
Following a 4-1 defeat to defending champions France, the Australians needed all 3 points against Tunisia to stand a chance to qualify for the second round.
The goal they needed came in the 23rd minute when Craig Goodwin’s deflected cross found Mitchell Duke, who accurately steered a header beyond the outstretched Aymen Dahmen.
Last time Australia recorded a win at the World Cup was in a 2-1 victory against Serbia in 2010.
This was also just the second clean sheet for Australia in their World Cup history, with the first and only other one coming against Chile in 1974.
The win catapults the Socceroos to second behind France and now, they only need a draw against Denmark in the final group game on Wednesday to qualify for the second round as long as France avoid defeat against Denmark later today.
After the game, Australia coach Graham Arnold said,
“I’m proud of the boys for showing that great fighting Aussie spirit. We were in their faces all the time. I hope we made the nation very proud.”
“After the first game I said it was the best friendly we could have had against France. Because you make a small mistake and you get punished. And a lot of those mistakes were removed tonight and I could not be more proud of the boys. Incredible effort.”
