The biggest sporting event in the world continues with the Group D Australia v Denmark clash that is do or die for both sides to make it into the knockout stage.
With so many games and so little time, our Group D France v Australia Match Centre tries to sum it all up as quickly as possible before and after the game and with just a hint of cynicism. If you wanted professional and/or good you’d be on the BBC website, not here. Essentially, we watch and follow the game so you don’t have to.
With answers to the key questions prior to the match and our Minutes that Mattered summary and stats post game, it is a real Who Cares guide to the 2022 World Cup for the person on the go.
Enjoy the Group D Australia v Denmark Match Centre.
KICKOFF – WEDNESDAY 30TH NOV – 18:00 (QATAR) 15:00 (UK) 02:00 (AEDT)
Group D Australia v Denmark Match Review
Australia have qualified for the knockout stage with a surprising 1-0 win over Denmark. They weathered a first half hour storm of Danish attack before taking their chance in the second half on the counter attack and holding on at the end.
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute you find on professional websites except one that has only the minutes that matter. All wheat, no chaff.
And if the below isn’t enough, for those in Australia you can catch up via the SBS World Cup on Demand.
3’ Min A very early booking for Aziz Behich who was guilty of holding onto Denmark’s Andreas Skov Olsen as he charged down the right side. It’s probably a yellow card after 60 minutes in most games but seems a little harsh this early. Maybe the referee is laying down a marker on xB (expected behaviour) and you do have to do that with young children, and some professional footballers are only just a social level above a toddler.
6’ Min First big chance for Denmark, or at least an early warning for Australia. The Danes attack down the left and before you can say “Baby Animals” the cross was whipped in. Thankfully Mat Ryan was alert as ever.
8’ Min Australia’s first half-decent attack of the night saw Aziz Behich tear down the left, although his cross was pretty wild.
10’ Min Big Denmark chance closed down in the box. Denmark cross the ball into Australia’s penalty area and manage to get away a shot which is immediately and expertly blocked by Miloš Degenek.
11’ Min Great save from Mat Ryan and it needed to be. Denmark’s Mathias Jensen was flying down the right, and he unleashed a cracking shot at the near post that Mat Ryan. Denmark are the dominant side here, with more than twice the possession, and Australia should be charging rent given the amount of time Denmark are spending in their half.
18’ Min Another desperate save from Mat Ryan saves the day. It wasn’t the most aesthetic and perhaps a little arsey if we’re honest. A cross comes in and Mat Ryan gets his legs down to it, but seems to almost trip over himself, but in the process his legs swing around in a motion that scoops the ball away from danger. Better to be lucky than good, and luckily Mat Ryan seems to be both. But we can’t rely on lucky keepers and offside rulings all game as Denmark are quite relentless right now.
22’ Min Ahh, that’s better. Australia’s first shot on target and it comes via Route One football. Mat Ryan serves up the first magnificent long pass, and a couple of Australian headers later Riley McGree blasts a shot on goal which is easily saved by the cool Kasper Schmiechel.
24’ Min Australia continues to defend their socks off as they shut down another Denmark chance. Although, if Denmark pick up their quality in the final shot they are in big trouble. As it stands none of the Danish players would get a job at Coyote Ugly.
28’ Min Some beautiful flowing football from Denmark that would be easier to marvel at if it weren’t against Australia. Pass after pass leads into Australia’s penalty area, but again the desperate cover defence from the Socceroos denies Denmark. Have the Socceroos got another 60 minutes (plus 17 minutes added time presumed) of heroics left in them. We say yes.
31’ Min Decent attack from Australia here, showing a few signs of life down the right end of the field. They’re going to get as many chances as a man in a Hawaiian shirt at a speed dating event, so Australia need to make their chances count. Sadly a few minutes later Mathew Leckie does get that great chance with a great through ball, but Leckie’s first touch evades him, like the women in the previously mentioned event.
41’ Min Now for some beautiful football from the Socceroos that we can enjoy, who seem to be slowly shifting the game into the Danish half. Some wonderful ball movement across the field which ended in a shot straight to Kasper Schmeichel, but the growth continues.
45’ Min Just two minutes of added time on offer for the first half. The referee may have gone rogue from FIFA’s edict.
45’ +1 Min Australia have time for one decent chance before the break but don’t convert. Much like the McDonalds ads in the SBS coverage, Denmark were all over the Australians for the first half hour, but you’d have to argue that Australia edged the last 15 minutes. Thankfully this website has so few readers that we can boldly declare our full Australian bias and hope the last 15 minute momentum carries into the second half and knockout stage.
HALF TIME – AUSTRALIA 0 DENMARK 0
46’ Min Early bonus for Australia as they receive a free corner from Denmark as a too-clever clearance from the Danes goes backwards over the line. They earn a second corner too and it all comes to nothing, but a good start none-the-less. A minute later Australia steal the ball back and Jackson Irvine has a shot near the goal.
51’ Min A Danish attack leaves Australian hero Harry Souttar winded as the hulking Socceroos defender wears the full shot in the chest. It was part of a dangerous little burst from Denmark that Australia rode out well again.
57’ Min Free kick to Denmark and yellow card for Miloš Degenek for pulling on the jersey of the Danish attacker. Of course the grabbing is minimal and pissweak, and the yellow card over the top officiating, but it is what it is. Christian Eriksen’s free kick on a very tight angle threatens to go in but doesn’t curve enough.
59’ Min GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL FOR AUSTRALIA
Wow and wow. Australia score on the counter attack. Australian hero Harry Souttar starts the attack, he finds Riley McGree in space on the left, and his through ball to Mathew Leckie gives the Australian the perfect run towards goal. Leckie has plenty to do, and he avoids the chasing Danish defender and then puts his shot around Kasper Schmeichel beautifully to score. Did we mention wow. The Socceroos needed it too, as the France-Tunisia game was currently a draw which put the Socceroos out on goal difference.
AUSTRALIA 1 DENMARK 0
67’ Min Aziz Behich almost creates a chance out of nothing with some swift football dancing in the penalty area. He gets within a couple of metres of the near posts before being shut down.
69’ Min Denmark make another couple of substitutions, one of them removes Skov Olsen who has been one of Denmark’s best.
71’ Min Controversial moment, well almost. A Danish player crumbles and goes down in the box and a penalty looms, but the player is also offside which overrules everything else. Thank goodness. By the way Tunisia have taken the lead against France, which means Australia must hold on to qualify.
75’ Min Look at that, a foul for Australia and a yellow card for a Denmark player. And a free kick in a decent position.
82’ Min Jamie Maclaren joins the fray as Australia look for some energy to see out this outrageously good 1-0 lead. Hopefully this ends up a better Australia-Maclaren collaboration that Daniel Ricciardo in F1.
85’ Min A mini break for Australia gives Bacchus a sniff at goal but is blocked. They’ll have to settle for the ball staying in the Danish half a little longer which is fine when you’re 1-0 up. But the stress of seeing an unlikely knockout stage qualification within reach is reaching RSL security guard on Anzac Day levels.
87’ Min Denmark go close with an attacking raid. As ever Australian hero Harry Souttar is good for a block and the follow up shot from Denmark goes well wide.
89’ Min And a dangerous Denmark cross is halter by the Australians via a wonderfully milked penalty. About time Australia get away with one.
90’ Min Six minutes of added time. This better be the fastest 360 seconds in Australian sport.
90’ +1 Min Very close from Denmark in the Australian penalty box again, but the Australians hold on heroically again.
90’ +3 Min Corner for Denmark, and you know they are desperate as keeper Kasper Schmeichel is up for it. Eriksen’s delivery is taken by Mat Ryan and another chance is stopped. Moments later an Eriksen chance is stopped again.
90’ +5 Min Another corner and another visit from the Danish keeper. The corner goes long and there’s a free header at the far post and the header goes over the bar. Won’t this extra 6th minute bugger off already.
90’ +6 Min There it is. Australia have qualified for the knockout stage with possibly the nudest Australian team at a World Cup. Who could say they could see this happening after the 4-1 loss to France. What joy, what a reward for getting up at 1am and sampling this live.
Final Score
AUSTRALIA 1
Mathew Leckie 59′
DENMARK 0
HT 0-0
Player of the Match
All Australian players. And Christian Eriksen.
Points of Interest
- It was a very quiet atmosphere compared to nearly every other game we’ve seen at the World Cup so far. There seemed like a fair few empty seats, and the buzz around the stadium was nearly non-existent. One would say this was an advantage to the Socceroos because a lot of them play to similar crowds in the A League. That may be being unfair on the A League or this game or both. One thing that would have made the Australians feel even more at home would be that random guy in a Souths jersey which seems to pop up in sporting events around the globe. (n.b. not the The Globe from the Big Audio Dynamite song)
- It sure felt like a big Socceroos game at a World Cup. Because there was an overzealous referee who seemed to send all the 50-50 calls the other way. Typical pro Europe anti-Asian bias. A bit like Sky News in Australia.
Group D Australia v Denmark Match Stats
Group D Australia v Denmark Starting Teams
AUSTRALIA (4-4-2)
1 Ryan
2 Degenek
19 Souttar
4 Rowles
16 Behich
7 Leckie
13 Mooy
22 Irvine
23 Goodwin
14 McGree
15 Duke
DENMARK (4-3-3)
1 Schmeichel
13 Kristensen
2 Andersen
6 Christensen
5 Maehle
7 Jensen
23 Højbjerg
10 Eriksen
11 Skov Olsen
9 Braithwaite
25 Lindstrøm
Group D Australia v Denmark Match Preview
Why should you care?
Because this is where the World Cup gets interesting. Basically the winner goes through to the knockout stage. A draw will help Australia but not Denmark, but is not fully foolproof for Australia as their -2 goal difference is one goal worse than Tunisia so if they win by a large margin (albeit against dominant France) it could be good night Australia.
Best thing to do is hope for an Australia win, if you are Australian inclined. And why wouldn’t you be unless you are from Tunisia, Denmark, and possibly a few pockets of News Ltd.
As a neutral what could be better than basically a knockout game before the knockout stage. And underdog with the upper hand.
The only downside is the time slot.
Who should you care about?
Mitchell Duke is a good start for Australians, as he was one of the heroes of the game against Tunisia. As was Harry Souttar it has to be said. These two names would not probably be able to be recalled by most Australians before the tournament, and Olivier Giroud.
Mathew Leckie is also a key player for Australia after he has been one of their bet across the tow games so far.
As for Denmark Christian Eriksen still has to be the key player, as Denmark will need as least one goal to progress, and he is a most likely creator and scorer of goals. Eriksen’s goal scoring rate for Denmark of 33% goals per game is better than his overall club record of 20%
Full 2022 World Cup Squads & Stats
Is there a barely interesting fact?
Denmark’s record against teams from Asia is spread out as W1 D1 L1, with the one draw v Australia.
Australia’s record against European nations at the World Cup is is W1 D2 L7.
Australia’s record for the last game of the group stage is W2 D1 L2, with the two Ls coming in the last two World Cups.
Who will win?
Australia 1 Denmark 1
Full 2022 World Cup Predictions
What is the table?
Team / Games / Points / Goals Scored / Goals Against / Goal Difference.
| France | 2 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| Australia | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | -2 |
| Tunisia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| Denmark | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
Group D Australia v Denmark Match Review
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute except one that has only the minutes that matter.
Stay tuned after the match.
Group D Australia v Denmark Match Stats
Coming after the match.
