Participant rankings as Socceroos hold final 16 hopes alive
Australia gained a World Cup recreation for the primary time since 2010 with a hard-earned victory towards Tunisia on Saturday.
The Socceroos stored their hopes of reaching the final 16 alive with a dogged efficiency in Qatar, maintaining the Eagles of Carthage at bay and selecting up their first factors of the event.
A tense opening 20 minutes yielded little in means of probabilities, with Youssef Msakni dribbling the ball by the six yard field and out for a purpose kick in the one actual foray for both facet early on.
Mohamed Drager lashed a shot from vary excessive and huge quickly after as Tunisia no less than started to point out just a little little bit of journey, earlier than they have been hit with a suckerpunch on the different finish.
Craig Goodwin burst down the left flank and managed to select a cross – albeit through a deflection off of Drager – for Mitchell Duke, who did properly to contort his physique and neck to steer a header up and past Aymen Dahmen to offer Australia the lead.
Drager spurned one other opening for Tunisia after catching the Socceroos chilly from a fast throw-in, along with his close-range strike blocked off the road by Harry Souttar.
Tunisia ought to have levelled on the stroke of half-time when Msakni fired huge from six yards out having met a low cutback from Issam Jebali, and Australia went into tthe interval main in a World Cup recreation for the primary time.
Mathew Leckie got here near doubling the lead halfway by the second half as he tried to satisfy Jamie Maclaren’s low cross, however there was an excessive amount of venom on the ball and the possibility went begging.
In dying want of a purpose, centre-back Montassar Talbi lashed a volley at purpose with below 10 minutes remaining, however it was simply held by Mat Ryan.
The probabilities have been coming too late for Tunisia, with Wahbi Khazri subsequent as much as intention straight down Ryan’s throat.
Finally, Tunisia did not ask sufficient questions of Australia and at the moment are staring down the barrel of elimination with France up subsequent for them. The Socceroos spherical off the group stage towards Denmark.
GK: Aymen Dahmen – 5/10 – Did not have an excessive amount of to do.
CB: Dylan Bronn – 6/10 – Endured robust battles with the tireless Goodwin.
CB: Yassine Meriah – 5/10 – Uncomfortable on the ball however made some good restoration challenges.
CB: Montassar Talbi – 6/10 – Largely obtained the higher of Leckie.
RM: Mohamed Drager – 6/10 – Full of life going ahead in his solely half of soccer, although was reasonably wasteful.
CM: Ellyes Skhiri – 5/10 – On the coronary heart of most of Tunisia’s greatest spells, however there merely weren’t sufficient of them.
CM: Aissa Laidouni – 4/10 – Contributed little in comparison with his midfield associate.
LM: Ali Abdi – 5/10 – Roamed ahead however did not tangibly have an excessive amount of of an influence.
RF: Naim Sliti – 3/10 – Other than a short spell in the beginning of the second half, Sliti was very quiet.
LF: Youssef Msakni – 4/10 – Wasted the nice probabilities he obtained and was on the periphery of the sport when not harming his facet’s assaults.
CF: Issam Jebali – 5/10 – Linked up properly along with his different forwards however wasn’t too threatening himself.
SUB: Ferjani Sassi (46′ for Drager) – 3/10
SUB: Wahbi Khazri (67′ for Laidouni) – 4/10
SUB: Taha Yassine Khenissi (74′ for Jebali) – 4/10
SUB: Wajdi Kechrida (74′ for Bronn) – 4/10
Supervisor: Jalel Kadri – 4/10 – Made modifications to attempt to flip the tide however Tunisia regarded means off it from the beginning.
GK: Mat Ryan – 7/10 – Made a few respectable saves down the stretch.
RB: Fran Karacic – 7/10 – Helpful at each ends of the pitch and put in an important shift.
CB: Harry Souttar – 9/10 – Bought his head on completely all the pieces and his distrubution was wonderful. Offered a number of key tackles and blocks.
CB: Kye Rowles – 7/10 – Held the fort properly alongside Souttar.
LB: Aziz Behich – 6/10 – Bought crushed a bit simply in just a few duels however was largely high quality.
CM: Aaron Mooy – 8/10 – Dug in deep to do the soiled work, however offered nice technical skill within the midfield battle too.
CM: Jackson Irvine – 6/10 – Weeved his means between the strains and partnered Mooy properly.
AM: Riley McGree – 5/10 – Wasn’t concerned as a lot as Australia’s different midfielders.
RW: Mathew Leckie – 6/10 – Supply wasn’t as on level at this time however he made good choices and fought for the staff.
CF: Mitchell Duke – 8/10 – Labored ever so laborious for the staff and took his purpose extraordinarily properly.
LW: Craig Goodwin – 7/10 – By no means stopped working. A little bit of fortune about his help however the transfer between him and Duke deserved a purpose.
SUB: Jamie Maclaren (64′ for Duke) – 6/10
SUB: Ajdin Hrustic (64′ for McGree) – 6/10
SUB: Milos Degenek (76′ for Karacic) – 6/10
SUB: Keanu Baccus (85′ for Leckie) – N/A
SUB: Awer Mabil (85′ for Goodwin) – N/A
Supervisor: Graham Arnold – 7/10 – Australia’s dedication and defensive resilience is a credit score to their supervisor.
