Australia beat Denmark 1-0 on Wednesday to reach the last 16 of the World Cup for just the second time in their history sending the nation into celebration.
Mathew Leckie’s superb 60th-minute goal, twisting and turning to shake off the Danish defenders, was enough to lift the Australians into second spot in Group D and earn them a meeting with the winner of Argentina’s Group C.
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Australia coach Graham Arnold said he was “just so proud of the effort by the boys” after they qualified for the knockout stage for the first time since 2006.
“It was a short turnaround but their effort was incredible. A lot of belief, a lot of hard work,” Arnold said.
“These boys came in with a great mindset. We’ve been working on this for four, four-and-a-half years about the belief, the energy and the focus. I could see in their eyes they were ready tonight.”
Leckie, meanwhile, spoke of the emotion of scoring his first World Cup goal.
“I think in those moments you don’t think too much, you don’t have time to think, you know it all happened so fast. It was a great ball and I had one more man to beat,” said Leckie of his goal.
“Low and hard, it’s difficult for a keeper to save and as I soon as I saw it was going in I was so excited and so happy.
“I think by the celebration you can see how much emotion there was. I’m just so proud you know, we’ve worked so hard…. My first World Cup is probably one of the most important goals for me and for the team.”
The upset of the world No.10 was met with an outpouring of emotion back in Australia.
