Socceroos strike to break 12-year World Cup drought

Doha: The Socceroos’ long World Cup winning drought is finally over after a stirring 1-0 triumph over Tunisia that gives Graham Arnold’s men a chance of getting out of Group D and matching the nation’s best-ever achievement on football’s biggest stage.

In front of an intimidating crowd of 41,823 which was almost entirely against them, Australia showed they were up for the fight with a strong, spirited performance that smothered the northern African side in the first half, with a clever header from the unheralded Mitch Duke giving them a richly deserved lead at the break.

They had to protect it with their lives, though, as the Tunisians rallied in response, wrestled back control and pushed hard for a leveller that never came - and big Harry Souttar led the way, brushing aside his struggles against France with a heroic outing in the heart of defence that set the tone, while the safe hands of Maty Ryan also helped carry them home.

It became a war of attrition, a tough watch for the neutral, and an excruciating one for Socceroos diehards towards the end. But who cares? This was Australia’s first World Cup victory since beating Serbia 2-1 at the 2010 World Cup, and along with the famous 3-1 win against Japan four years earlier, it was just the third time the nation has bagged three points in the tournament.

It sets up a massive clash with Denmark on Thursday morning (2am AEDT), where the Socceroos will likely need a repeat performance to seal a top-two finish in the group and qualification for the round of 16 - something they’ve only achieved once before, when the ‘golden generation’ got there at Germany 2006.

Arnold, who was an assistant to Pim Verbeek for that Serbia win, said this week he wanted to bring the nation another moment to savour like it so badly that he had barely slept in 12 years. Now he can rest easy, having secured the crowning achievement of his tenure at the helm of the Australian team - and whatever happens next, it’s there forever.

Mitchell Duke celebrates with Jackson Irvine after scoring a goal. Credit: AP

As expected, there was a red sea in the stands at the Al Janoub Stadium - and only a sprinkling of green and gold - as Doha’s big Tunisian expat community came out in force, booing, jeering and whistling every Socceroos move.

But once both sides overcome their early nerves, Australia took the sting out of the atmosphere by matching Tunisia in the physical battle, retaining the ball smartly and forcing them onto the back foot.

Their only avenue to goal, however, were crosses from wide areas, 17 of which were delivered in the first half alone. Fortunately, one of them yielded the breakthrough in the 23rd minute through a slick move started and finished by Duke as the Socceroos turned defence into attack quickly.

Craig Goodwin, the scorer of Australia’s goal against France, provided the final pass from the left with a cross that was deflected into the ground but bounced up beautifully for Duke, who still had plenty of work to do to react within a split second, contort his body and get the right angle on his header. He nailed it, flicking the ball past Aymen Dahmen and into the bottom corner, and etching his name into history as the eighth Aussie to score at the World Cup.

Australian players and staff huddle after their 1-0 victory.Credit: Getty

From there it was a white-knuckle ride to the end, with a desperate block from Souttar denying Mohamed Drager’s 41st minute effort and Tunisian captain Youssef Msakni letting them off the hook by fluffing a terrific opportunity from close range.

Beyond those moments, though, the Socceroos’ rearguard largely held firm, making clear-cut chances hard to find for the Eagles of Carthage, even as they became scarce in the other direction, too - although Mathew Leckie could have made it 2-0 with 20 minutes to go had he connected with substitute Jamie Maclaren’s cutback.

All throughout, Souttar was putting out spotfires left, right and centre.

Surprisingly, Arnold made only one change to the side that lost 4-1 to France, with Fran Karacic coming in at right-back for the injured Nathaniel Atkinson - backing in the rest of his troops after saying they “ran out of legs” in their opening match. Despite being declared 95 per cent fit by Arnold, Ajdin Hrustic, their key creative midfielder, was named on the bench and came on in the second half for his first minutes at this World Cup; overall, the coach’s selections and tactics were totally vindicated, and his players executed the plan well.

The Tunisians also made only one change, swapping forward Anis Slemane for Naim Sliti, and contrary to Arnold’s predictions that they would play a 4-3-3, retained the back five they used in their 0-0 draw with Denmark - but clearly struggled to keep that same energy in this match.

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