Mile Jedinak equalises from penalty
- Eriksen half-volley gives Denmark early lead
- Jedinak equalises from the penalty spot after VAR review
- Nabbout was substituted with shoulder injury.
Australia vs Denmark match ended in a 1-1 draw in Group C match at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Samara, Russia. This was second match was intensely fought before a crowd of 40727 and result could have been different either way.
Australia fought bravely – Lekie, who led Australian attack, took a massive workload. Australia had 52% ball possession and had passing accuracy 85% compared to Denmark’s 88%.
At 7th minute of the game, Nicolai Jorgensen controlled the ball and cleverly flicked it inside to Eriksen, who ghosted into space and lashed a volley on the rise which flew high into the net. It was Eriksen’s 13th goal in his last 15 appearances for his country and underlined the pivotal importance of the Tottenham Hotspur playmaker.
At 37th minute of the game, Yussuf Poulsen’s hand ball inside the box went unnoticed by Antonio Lopez but replays came to the aid of Australia. After a slight delay, Lopez pointed to the penalty spot. Mile Jedinak, the Australian captain came to take the penalty second time. For a split second, we had all possibilities in our mind on the outcome of the shot, but when the sight of Schmeichel diving the wrong way came into view, the Australian fans celebrated wildly as their World Cup hopes remained slim but intact.
Australia’s ecstasy was suffered abruptly by a concerning injury for Andrew Nabbout who was in agony after damaging his elbow, ending his night and introducing Tomi Juric into the contest at around 75th minute.
But Australian dominance continued till end with introduction of Daniel Arzani at 68th minute. He had a great influence for rest of the time and Kasper Schmeichel, the Denmark goalkeeper remain extremely busy till end of the game. He saved few difficult situations for his team.
“I feel we should have won. It’s like against France: I’m disappointed and proud, and feel we deserved more. I honestly think we’ve deserved four points from these two games. So I’m very disappointed. It is just the last piece of the puzzle we are missing. Now we must concentrate on Peru; the rest, in terms of whether we can qualify, we cannot influence.” Bert van Marwijk, Australia coach said. “Andrew Nabbout looks to have picked up a bad shoulder injury. I think his tournament is over.”- he added
Australia (4-5-1)
GK: Mathew Ryan;
D: Mark Milligan, Josh Risdon, Aziz Behich, Trent Sainsbury;
M: Mathew Leckie; Robbie Kruse (Daniel Arzani,68′), Aaron Mooy, Mile Jedinak, Tom Rogic (Jackson Irvine, 82′);
F: Andrew Nabbout (Tomi Juric, 75′);
Denmark (4-3-3)
GK: Kasper Schmeichel;
D: Jens Stryger Larsen, Andreas Christensen, Simon Kjaer, Henrik Dalsgaard;
M: Thomas Delaney, Lasse Schone, Christian Eriksen
F: Pione Sisto, Yussuf Poulsen (M. Braithwaite, 59′), Nicolai Jorgensen (A. Cornelius, 68′)
