Australia keeps World Cup hopes alive

Australia clinched a 1-0 victory over Tunisia on Saturday to keep their hopes of reaching the World Cup knockout phase alive.

Striker Mitch Duke scored the only goal of a tight game with a clever header in the first half and Australia then desperately held on to silence Tunisia’s vociferous fans.

Australia sit second in Group D with three points from two games, having been well-beaten 4-1 by holders France in their tournament-opener.

Their best World Cup performance came in 2006 when they also reached the last 16, in the days of Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka.

Graham Arnold’s Australia don’t have players of that ilk but they have lots of heart and kicked off to deafening whistles in front of 42,000 at Al Janoub Stadium, where their fans were heavily outnumbered.

But they started the better against a Tunisia team who held Denmark 0-0 in their opener and are looking to reach the knockout stage for the first time.

In the 23rd minute Australia took the lead their possession deserved. 

Craig Goodwin, who scored the opener in the loss to France, crossed from the left and the ball ricocheted for Duke to glance his header back over his own shoulder and into the net.

Coach Jalel Kadri brought off Drager at the break and replaced him with a midfielder, Ferjani Sassi, and a match that had simmered up to that point threatened to boil over.

Australia were playing on the break and were inches away from a second but Mathew Leckie could not connect on a low cross as he slid in front of goal.

Minutes later goalkeeper and skipper Mathew Ryan denied Msakni from close range and Australia just about held on under intense pressure to leave Tunisia’s World Cup campaign in deep trouble.