Emotional Wright dedicates Aussie win to mother-in-law

AUSTRALIA defender Bailey Wright was grieving, having learned after the Socceroos’ 1-0 upset of Denmark at the World Cup that his mother-in-law had died.

Wright, who plays for Sunderland in the second tier of English football, had told Australian reporters he had grave fears for his mother-in-law’s health after receiving a message from his wife after the match on Wednesday.

Football Australia confirmed yesterday morning that Wright’s mother-in-law had died and the defender would not appear for media.

Wright had paid an emotional tribute to his mother-in-law and wife at the stadium on Wednesday night.

“I’ve just come in from a message from my wife. I just want to dedicate this to my wife, bless her, and her mum,” Wright had said at the stadium late on Wednesday.

“I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if she’s still with us.

“It was, for them, a really tough time back home, but ultimately it made this possible for me to be here and live one of my dreams so I dedicate that to Tammy.”

Wright said he had not told his teammates about his worries back home.

“No one knows. That’s something I’ve kept to myself; we’ve all got a lot going on. Job to do, isn’t it? You’ve got to be professional all the time,” he added.

Graham Arnold’s Australia meet Argentina in the last 16 at Qatar, only the second time the Socceroos have made the knockout phase.

Australia were knocked out of the last 16 at the 2006 World Cup by eventual champions Italy.

Few gave Australia much of a chance to advance from a group that also featured 2018 champions France and Tunisia.

However, the Socceroos had already shown through an arduous qualifying journey that they liked doing things “the hard way”, said Wright.

“When we set out on this journey four years ago, Arnie (Arnold) said to us what he wanted us to be about – our friendship and togetherness is what’s going to make us create history,” he said.

“It’s 11 brothers out there, whoever comes on, and it’s pretty special to be part of that.

“When you’re part of something like that, it’s difficult to really actually put it into words, what it feels like. It’s a real feeling.

“A few of us have said now that we feel like we have won the game today.”

Meanwhile, Denmark captain Simon Kjaer insisted that they are still a top team despite their dismal 1-0 defeat to Australia which knocked them out of the World Cup at the group stage.

Denmark had come into the tournament on a high after reaching the semi-finals of last year’s European Championship and beating world champions France home and away in the Nations League.

But they exited the tournament in humiliating fashion, finishing bottom of Group D with just one point and a single goal scored after Mathew Leckie fired Australia into the last 16.

“We didn’t deliver as a team,” said Kjaer, who missed Wednesday’s match with an injury.

“Massively disappointed but that’s part of football. We were flying very high in the Euro, now we’re pretty far down.

“We will have to take all the beatings and that’s right, we need to take everything. We’re an amazing team, still with a lot of quality and we have to learn from this.” — Agencies