Australia stunned Denmark – a team ranked 28 places above the Socceroos in FIFA’s World Rankings – to reach the World Cup knockout stages thanks to a brilliant goal from Mathew Leckie that secured a 1-0 victory.
It had been a tense, scoreless first half, marked by Denmark dominating possession and failing to convert any of its chances in this Group D match.
The tension seemed to percolate through every pass, every shot on goal, every pause in play, and ratcheted up a notch at the beginning of the second half when the news that Tunisia had taken a lead against France in the other Group D match filtered through.