Doha, Qatar: Wherever that came from, let there be more of it. Whatever was in Australia’s water bottles, double the strength. Denmark awaits, and a glimmer.
The Socceroos’ usual way is by the skin of their teeth, the last strand of Graham Arnold’s hair, the last tether between him and his job. It’s been their motif most of this campaign. It might always be.
But this? For a half, it was very nearly a command performance. Command might be a bit rich. Call it collaborative. Australia had promised 11 players embodying the spirit of all 26. Not without a few heart-stopping moments, they delivered. By the standard of Brazil and France, it was rustic. But where would Australia be without a bit of bushcraft?
What were weaknesses against France became strengths: crosses for instance. Much of Australia’s attack was channelled through Craig Goodwin down the left wing, which you could say is the power play in Australia just now.
It was his long cross that Mitchell Duke headed with slide rule precision inside the right upright. For the second time in this tournament, Australia led. You could see confidence rise and course through them.
As for Tunisia, what had been strengths against Denmark became weaknesses. Aggression veered towards recklessness, the other side of the same coin. You would expect the self-titled Eagles of Carthage to come with everything except elephants. In the second half, they deployed the elephants anyway; they threw everything at Australia.
Graham Arnold gathers the Socceroos in a circle around Martin Boyle.Credit:AP
Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote: “In football, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.” In the first match, the opposition was France, who proved to be an awful complication.
This was different. Duke had barely been sighted against France. Harry Souttar had rarely touched the ball. Now they stood tall, the goal believer and the goal denier. Souttar made lunging, goal-saving tackles a man of his size had no right make.
Against France, Aaron Mooy had looked ossified. This day, he was the Socceroos’ glue. The most taciturn of the Socceroos, when he laid a big and important tackle in the dying stages, he belted his chest and bellowed with the crowd.
Goalkeeper=captain Mat Ryan kept a clean sheet. Big deal? It is for Australia. It’s their first at the World Cup since 1974.
Not that it was not nerve-wracking. Having spent the first half laying a siege, the Socceroos spent the second defending one. It was desperate, it was dangerous, it was … glorious.
Tunisia in this tournament is a byword for playing with every last cell and sinew. But they’d studied Australia and recognised a kindred animus. They’re bracketed together in the middle powers section of the rankings, teams that cannot hope to get by on talent and flair alone. France can, Denmark too.
Australia and Tunisia each was competing in a sixth World Cup. Australia has advanced once, but Tunisia never. If Australia thought it was desperate, imagine Tunisia’s desperation. Actually, you could see it, and hear it; it was deafening.
Tunisia’s population is only half of Australia’s, but there are 50,000 expats in Doha, and they have become a palpable presence in the tournament. They also appeared to have enlisted the rest of northern Africa and a bit of the eastern Mediterranean as well.
Australia has spent much time training and playing in this part of the world in the past 12 months, and part of coach Arnold’s pitch to his team (and his country) was that this was a home away from home.
But Tunisia was already inside the gated Arab community. They’re geographically nearby, temperamentally similar and they play here all the time. Most crucially of all, they outnumbered the Australians in the stands by a fearful number. The Aussie Aussie chant disappeared under a thunderous wall of voices.
Australia had two fortifications to break down, one each side of the fence. They did it. They damned well did it.
Denmark won’t be quaking in their boots, but they will be lacing them up tightly. After all, they could not chisel a way through Tunisia’s defence in their first match. Arnold talks constantly of Australia’s DNA. It sounds glib, but perhaps really is a thing. Perhaps it stands for Do Not Acquiesce.
