Day seven of the Qatar World Cup saw the Socceroos bounce back, a footballing superstar save his team from disaster, the defending champions flex their muscles and a war of words between a coach and a former star striker-turned-pundit.
Overnight results:
- Australia 1 — 0 Tunisia
- Poland 2 — 0 Saudi Arabia
- France 2 — 1 Denmark
- Argentina 2 – 0 Mexico.
Here are five talking points.
Socceroos send Melbourne crazy
It's been a long time between drinks for Australian football fans. The Socceroos have made it to every World Cup since 2006, but the last time the team tasted victory at the tournament was in 2010 against Serbia.
That was, until last night and a certain goal from Mitch Duke earned Australia all three points against Tunisia.
We thought the celebrations when Craig Goodwin scored against France last week were big. However those were left in the ha'penny place behind the response from thousands of excitable people at Federation Square in Melbourne in the 23rd minute against Tunisia when Duke's pin-point header scored what proved to be the winner.
The roar would have woken up Melbourne if it had been a 1am game on a weeknight, never mind prime time on a Saturday night.
As we see the various celebrations around the world in more football-centric countries we can sometimes marvel at the passion on display from fans. But last night certainly showed again that Aussie fans can hold their own.
Let's hope the Socceroos can give people something else to shout about when they face Denmark in the wee hours of December 1.
Marvellous Mbappe leads the French tilt
The defending champions France had moments of frustration against Denmark overnight — indeed when they took the lead the first time they held it for less than seven minutes.
But after their 2-1 win made them the first team through to the last 16, right now it seems that whatever the question is for France, the answer is Kylian Mbappe.
In 2018, France scored 14 goals in seven games on the way to the title. Antoine Griezmann and Mbappe scored four goals each, with singles to Samuel Umtiti, Raphael Varane, Paul Pogba and Benjamin Pavard, plus two own goals — including one from Australia's Aziz Behich we'll gloss over...
This time at the tournament, veteran Olivier Giroud — who has stepped up since the Cup-ending training injury to Karim Benzema — scored two against Tunisia and midfielder Adrien Rabiot has one — the other three so far have gone to Mbappe.
As Messi and Ronaldo — and possibly Neymar — play their final World Cups, it seems Mbappe is primed to takeover as the number-one striker in the game. Based on the first couple of games, he could easily take out the Golden Ball for top striker and if France goes on to secure back-to-back titles, you wouldn't tip against him getting player of the tournament.
We also have to give praise to winger Ousmane Dembele — often a forgotten man behind Mbappe, Benzema and Griezmann et al.
Dembele's mazy dribbling and ability to set the play have proved difficult to stop, and while he may not be hitting the net yet, his work has been vital to the French success so far.
Messi saves Argentina from horror exit
Ever since Argentina's loss to Saudi Arabia on day three, the pressure on the perennial contenders has been immense — particularly so on one Lionel Messi.
Messi scored Argentina's only (legal) goal against Saudi Arabia, but he didn't have a great overall game and his teammates appeared not to be on the same page at times.
Knowing a loss against Mexico would be the end of their hopes, the South American champions were again nervous and not hitting the mark in attack.
But an hour in, Messi finally got a chance — and he took it, crashing a drive into the bottom corner to set off pandemonium at Lusail Stadium.
Then near the end, with confidence growing, he set up a lovely ball into the box for Theo Fernandez, who produced a magnificent curler to shut the door on Mexico.
“It’s a weight off our shoulders,” Messi said. "It gives us joy and peace of mind to start again.”
Afterwards, the dressing room celebrations were more like a quarterfinal or semifinal win — the goalkeeper was stomping on the table, and Messi could be seen in the background pumping his arms like the rest.
Just one small point though — even if La Albiceleste get a point from their last game against Poland, they are no guarantees to go through. If Saudi Arabia beat Mexico, which seems possible on both teams' performances so far, then it could still be "adios" to Argentina — and the circus that would set off is hard to overestimate.
Neymar's ankle still making headlines
Meanwhile, the most talked-about body part at this World Cup remains the ankle of Brazil's Neymar after he came off in tears against Serbia.
The team doctor has told the media that the superstar will miss the next match against Switzerland, with no certainty on a return date.
Given how much pain he was in, and how much he was kicked to the four corners of the pitch in the opening game, there might be a few doubts about him even making the last 16 onwards.
Now the man himself has posted pictures of his ankle on an Instagram story, and it is blowing up — the pictures, that is, not just the ankle.
"I'm injured, yes, and it's a pain, and it will hurt," he said.
"But I'm sure that I'll have the chance to return, because I'll do anything possible to help my country, my teammates and myself."
Of course, Brazilian fans will no doubt hope he can make it back for the final group game against Cameroon on December 3 (AEDT), but they might have to wait a little longer — and dare we whisper it, there is no guarantee he will be anything like his best if he does make it back.
Richarlison — scorer of THAT worldie against Serbia — will no doubt relish the opportunity to add to his tally, but it may need others like Gabriel Jesus, Vinicius Jr and Raphinha to step up.
Iran coach lays into German pundit Klinsmann
World Cup coaches and their teams have to put up with a certain amount of sharp analysis from the pundits — but Iran coach Carlos Queiroz lost his patience after some choice words from a former Cup legend, Germany's Jurgen Klinsmann.
Klinsmann is sharing his thoughts on the Cup for BBC, and he did not hold back after Iran's 2-0 win over Wales, having a go at Queiroz for what he termed his previous coaching "failures" before really going to town.
"It is not by coincidence, it is part of their [Iran's] culture, how they play," Klinsmann said. "They worked the referee. They work the linesman and fourth official, they are constantly in their ear. There were a lot of incidents we didn't see. This is their culture, they take you off your game."
If this was the case, it would hardly be the only example of a team employing such tactics at a major tournament.
However to say Queiroz returned serve is an understatement.
The coach unleashed a fiery Instagram post, accusing Klinsmann of questioning his character with what he called a "typical prejudiced judgement of superiority."
"No matter how much I can respect what you did inside the pitch, those remarks about Iran Culture, Iran National Team and my Players are a disgrace to Football," he wrote.
Klinsmann scored 47 goals in 108 caps for West Germany and Germany, was part of the 1990 West German team that won the World Cup, was also part of the German team that won the 1996 European Championships, and managed Die Mannschaft in the 2006 World Cup finals and the United States in the 2014 tournament.
Queiroz invited the German to visit their camp and learn about Iranian culture, poetry, art, algebra — and to listen to players about how much they love the game.
He finished by promising they would not make any judgements about Klinsmann's culture, but added that they would expect him to resign his position as a member of FIFA's Qatar 2022 Technical Study Group before coming to their camp. Ouch.
With AP
