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DD wrote:

A couple of lucky moments for us were when Behich grabbed an arm or shirt of an opponent for a fraction of a second early in the second half. He was already on a yellow and the referee walked over and gave him a warning and later the referee awarded the Danish a penalty but fortunately the flag went up which was backed up by the VAR.

Aaron Mooy was a big disappointment for me, he looked too slow and that rattled his confidence early. Whenever he did receive the ball he just looked to pass backwards

Harry Soutar on the other hand was enormous. Big things beckoning for that towering defender.

I thought we were bloody lucky in the first half, our defence far too deep and it was down there a lot, balls bouncing lose close in - Denmark just couldn't put it away. 

Mooy yeah been lite on, but the wasn't the only one that looked slow early.

Soutar having a great tournament.



 

Regardless the quality of the finish, that was pretty soft defending there by the Aussies....hopefully the flood gates don't open and the side can dig in, in the 2nd half and keep pushing Argentina for an equalizer.....would love it to go to penalties, with Messi missing his, enabling the Aussies to win.

It was great to get to the final 16.Exceeded all expectations with the side we sent to Quatar..
Unlike Denmark and, Tunisia , Argentina done there homework on the Aussies.There slowed the tempo of the game,held enourmous possession.Stopped our mids from fast breaking forward .Pinned us down with no space.And of coarse played up front through Messi.

Oh well, Socceroos far from embarrassed, achieved far more in 2022 than expected, and went further that giants like Germany and Belgium.

Not a bad show v the Argies, bar the GK utter stuff up, 2/ 1 not a hiding, pretty young squad bring on USA 2026.

England kicking goals and keeping a clean sheet, big test v France...

So its 5 European teams, 2 from South America and 1 from Africa in the quarter finals.  How about Morocco turning over Spain even though the Spaniards dominated possession.
There is a massive semi final looming if the Quarters go to form, Brazil v Argentina, I would definitely get up early in the morning for that. Of course Brazil have to get past Croatia first and the Netherlands may give Argentina a few problems.
In the other half of the draw, the odds are that the winner of England v France will be one of the finalists as I can't see Morocco or Portugal troubling either.

Very interesting turn of events and tournament, Spain out is a major upset, is this the first time an African team has got this far? maybe Senegal or Cameroon made the Qrts?

It's happened 3 time Baz,,top 8 Quarter Finals.
Ghana 2010
Senegal 2002
Cameron 1990.