World Cup LIVE: Socceroos into last 16, will face Messi, Argentina on Sunday morning after Leckie’s goal secures win

The Socceroos have set up a round of 16 clash with Lionel Messi’s Argentina on Sunday at 6am AEDT.

Australia earned second place in their group and a berth in the knockout rounds with a 1-0 win over Denmark in the early hours of this morning after Mathew Leckie’s second-half strike.

It’s just the second time the Socceroos have qualified for the second round of a World Cup. The 2006 side lost to Italy after a penalty in the final minutes.

Argentina moved up to first place in their group with a 2-0 win over Poland who will play France in their round of 16 game.

Mathew Leckie celebrates after scoring Australia’s goal against Denmark.Credit: Getty Images

That’s all from us today. Thanks for your company on a historic morning for the Socceroos, and to the great Roy Ward for steering the ship earlier on. We’ll be back tomorrow morning as two more groups wrap up with a couple of former champions in Spain and Germany looking to lock in their spots.

Graham Arnold and his team celebrate the historic win over Denmark.Credit: Getty

We’ll leave you with the story of the Socceroos’ World Cup so far. You can find that one from Ben Cubby here. Long may it continue.

Until then - drink it in, enjoy it, walk out of your office and tell your boss they’re a bum if they call you out. What a day. See you tomorrow, or Sunday, or both.

When Tunisia took a shock lead against France, Australia’s World Cup campaign looked over. How they responded created history.

Wahbi Khazri of Tunisia celebrates his eventual winner.Credit: Getty

Read Vince Rugari’s full story here.

Mathew Leckie had looked up to the golden Socceroos, and he hopes another generation of kids will draw inspiration from him.

“It’s moments like this that build the game, and potentially give young kids inspiration to walk on and be a footballer one day,” he said.

Read Greg Baum’s full story here.

Robert Lewandowski left the field with a huge smile on his face after blowing kisses to fans and hugging teammates.

You’d never know his team just lost a crucial World Cup game 2-0 to Argentina.

Robert Lewandowski.Credit: Getty

But Poland scraped into the knockout stages of the tournament, despite Wednesday’s loss to the South American champions, after Salem Aldawsari’s stoppage-time goal for Saudi Arabia in a 2-1 defeat to Mexico.

That late goal ensured Poland finished as runner-up in Group C, ahead of Mexico on goal difference, to set up a last 16 game against France on Sunday.

“You can say it’s a happy defeat,” said Lewandowski, who failed to even have a shot on target. “I’m not happy with the way we played. Of course not. We can’t be happy with the game itself.”

Poland had been thoroughly outplayed by Argentina with Lewandowski an ineffective isolated figure as his team was pegged back for the duration of the game. Argentina had 24 attempts at goal, 13 on target. Poland had three, none on target.

“We didn’t want to take any risk and, you know, we achieved our result because we reached the next round,” Lewandowski said with a smile. “Even though we lost, we can be happy.”

AP

France are filing a complaint to FIFA after a last-gasp equaliser by Antoine Griezmann was disallowed following a video review after the final whistle of their World Cup match against Tunisia, the French federation said.

Griezmann volleyed home eight minutes into stoppage time but the goal was ruled out as the forward was offside when Aurelien Tchouameni sent the ball into the area.

Antoine Griezmann remonstrates with referee Matthew Conger.Credit: AP

The ball was deflected by a Tunisian defender into the path of Griezmann, who was onside at that point, but the effort was disallowed and Tunisia won the game 1-0.

“We are writing a complaint after Antoine Griezmann’s goal was, in our opinion, wrongly disallowed. This complaint has to be filed within 24 hours after the final whistle,” the FFF said in a statement.

Tunisia were eliminated from the tournament while France advanced top of Group D into the last 16 and will face Poland on Sunday.

The FFF did not specify whether the complaint was over the goal itself or the fact it was ruled out after the final whistle.

Reuters

On face value, it seems like a completely ridiculous question. But after claiming their first top-10 scalp on the biggest stage, and reaching the round of 16 for just the second time, why not ask it, just to see how it sounds out loud?

Belief is sky high in Camp Socceroo.Credit: AP

As far as the team themselves are concerned, the sky’s the limit.

Let’s not forget there’s still another 15 teams — not you, Canada — who believe they can join the Socceroos in the round of 16.

Friday morning will decide groups E and F with the fixtures as follows (Sydney time):
2am: Croatia v Belgium, Canada v Morocco
6am: Japan v Spain, Costa Rica v Germany.

Here’s how those groups look heading into the final matchday:

It’s just over two years since Argentina, and indeed the football world as a whole, bid a sad farewell to the peerless Diego Maradona. The great man came to Sydney in 1993 and subsequently put the Socceroos’ hopes of qualifying for USA 1994 to the sword.

Maradona gets a police escort from training in Sydney in 1993.Credit: Steve Christo

Australia’s record against the Albiceleste stands at one win, one draw — the match you can read about below — and five losses. Let’s hope we can tweak that W column come Sunday morning.

Read what happened when Sydney met Diego here.

Our man in Doha has run the rule over a historic night for the Socceroos. Unsurpisingly, goalscoring hero Mat Leckie and cult hero defender Harry Souttar loom large.

Mat Ryan, Harry Souttar, Mathew Leckie, Milos Degenek and Jackson Irvine.Credit: Getty

Who were your standouts? Let us know in the comments and read Vince’s full assessment here.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning for such a wonderful day for football in Australia and in Argentina, Poland and France who have all moved into the second round.

I appreciate all the comments and interactions throughout the night and I will now hand over to James Polson to run the blog for the rest of the morning.

Please have a lovely day and take care of all those sleep-deprived fans!

Bye for now.