Graham Arnold has continuously referenced ‘Aussie DNA’ as being the Socceroos’ secret weapon against more fancied rivals in Qatar. The world just got a glimpse of what he’s been banging on about.
Australia’s 1-0 win over Tunisia — just the nation’s third victory in 18 matches at the World Cup — wasn’t exactly an advertisement for the beautiful game.
It was scrappy, stop-start and physical, descending into the kind of “war” Arnold had been preparing for — and the Socceroos showed they were up for the fight.
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Emotional Roos rally together after win! | 00:43
For stars like Jackson Irvine and Riley McGree, who have plied their trade in England’s gritty second-tier, it had a familiar feeling.
“Me and Riley were laughing after the game – we said it felt like a Championship game at times,” Irvine said. “Stoppages, set pieces, second balls, battles.
“At the end of the day, at this stage, you’ve just gotta perform against what you’re dealing with, I guess.
“We always talk about wanting to be the team that brings the quality on top of everything else, but today was about harnessing that fight and that spirit and we did that in bundance.”
Australia showed the exact kind of “lion mentality” Milos Degenek had preached heading into the crucial Group D encounter. Nobody was prouder than the veteran defender post-match.
“You can’t disrespect yourself and say ‘I’m Aussie, they’re Brazilians, they are born with a ball at their feet,” Degenek said after the win.
“But sometimes you have to be realistic and be honest with your strengths and weaknesses.
“And our strengths is that mentality, that fighting mentality.
“… You have to realise where you are. Yes you want beautiful football but you’ve got to win games. There’s no point in having 80 per cent possession and losing the game 1-0.
“I’d be the happiest guy on earth if we had 15 per cent possession, one shot on goal and the other team had 25 shots on goal and Maty saved them all and we win every game and win the World Cup.”
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Aaron Mooy was the epitome of the fighting spirit as he put in a tireless shift in midfield, scrapping for everything and anything.
“We just adapt to the situation,” Mooy said. “Obviously we want to play good football, sometimes it’s not always possible.
“You have to win your battles and we got the points today, we did the hard stuff, the battling, one-on-one duels.
“We played a bit more in the first half, the second half was more of a fight, we got to do that. It’s not always pretty, football.”
Craig Goodwin, who followed up his goal in Australia’s opening 4-1 loss to France with the assist for Duke’s match-winning goal, added: “everyone who is involved in this squad is ready to fight for absolutely everything.
“We knew that this game would be more of a fight than the France game and be more of fight than the Denmark game that could be a bit more tactical.
“We needed the same amount of effort but we knew there would be a lot of duels, a lot of 50-50s. I think you saw on the bench we celebrated every 50-50 tackle as much as we did the goal.
“It was a great shift from the boys and we need to recover now and we’ll enjoy the win and then get ready for Denmark and be ready to go again.”
