Australia upsets Denmark to earn 1st qualification to knockout round since 2006 | CBC Sports

Australia advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup, beating favoured Denmark 1-0 Wednesday on Mathew Leckie’s 60th-minute goal.

It is Australia’s first time in the knockout stage since 2006, the only other time they advanced out of the group stage.

Leckie took a pass near the centre circle and moved around a Danish defender before hitting a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel diving to his left.

Denmark dominated possession through much of the game but could not generate enough chances.

Denmark’s Mathias Jensen had one of his team’s best chances of the game in the 10th minute, but Australia goalkeeper Matthew Ryan came up with a point-blank save.

Referee Mustapha Ghorbal handed a yellow card early to defender Aziz Behich as Australia defended tenaciously from the start and counter attacked when possible.

Australia finished with six points in Group D, with defending champion France winning the group.

France blanked by Tunisia, still tops Group D

Defending champion France won its World Cup group despite losing to Tunisia 1-0 Wednesday.

Khazri ran at the heart of the French defence and beat two players before poking the ball into the bottom corner. He fell to his knees and was mobbed by teammates. When he got back up, he made a heart shape to the Tunisian fans behind the goal and then limped off, appearing to hurt himself as he fell when scoring his 25th international goal and his third at World Cups.

Another protester runs onto field

A few minutes after Khazri’s goal, a man ran onto the field at Education City Stadium with what appeared to be a Palestinian flag. He did some acrobatic jumps before six security officials dragged him off.

With France already qualified for the knockout stage, coach Didier Deschamps rested Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and most of his regular starters. 

With goalkeeper Hugo Lloris among the rested, 37-year-old Steve Mandanda played only the second World Cup match of his long career. The other was also in the team’s third group game four years ago.

Mandanda’s appearance means Lloris will have to wait a little longer to equal defender Lilian Thuram’s national record of 142 appearances. Lloris has made 141 appearances for Les Bleus.