Tunisia shocks France but fails to advance to last 16
As France searched for a late equalizer, the players on Tunisia’s bench were watching another World Cup match on TV hoping for a goal.
Neither of them came, giving Tunisia a momentous 1-0 win over defending champion France that still wasn’t enough to prevent the north African team from being eliminated.
Wahbi Khazri scored in the 58th minute Wednesday to lead Tunisia to only its third victory at a World Cup tournament. But in stoppage time, the Tunisians on the sidelines were more interested in the other Group D game, crowding around a TV screen on the bench hoping Denmark would be able to score against Australia — a circumstance that would have lifted Tunisia into second place and also into the round of 16 in Qatar.
“We were praying for a Denmark goal but it never game,” Khazri said. “But that’s the thing with soccer, you should only count on yourself. We didn’t do enough in the first two games, otherwise we’d be through.”
France ended up winning the group with six points, ahead of Australia on goal difference. Tunisia finished with four points in third place.
It was France’s first loss at the World Cup since the 2014 quarterfinals, when Germany beat the team 1-0.
Australia 1, Denmark ●
0: Australia advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup, beating favored Denmark 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 center circle and moved around a Danish defender before hitting a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel diving to his left.
Australia finished with six points in Group D.
Defending champion France won the group on goal difference despite losing to Tunisia 1-0 in the other group match.
The World Cup proved to be a major disappointment for Denmark after reaching the semifinals in the 2020 European Championship.
Denmark dominated possession through much of Wednesday’s game but could not generate enough chances.
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Henry Martin and Luis Chaves each scored in Mexico’s furious attempt to stay alive at the
Mexico 2, Saudi Arabia 1:
World Cup, butdefeating Saudi Arabia was not enough.
Because of Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Poland in a simultaneous match, Mexico failed to advance out of its group for the first time since 1978.
Mexico had reached the round of 16 at the past seven World Cups, which was tied with Brazil for the longest current streak.
El Tri went into the match at Lusail Stadium needing both a victory and help from Poland playing across town against Argentina to advance in Group C. Argentina’s
victory meant goal difference came into play.
Martin scored in the 48th minute to give El Tri hope, and the team’s chances got even better with Luis Chavez’s goal on a free kick four minutes later.
Mexico tried desperately in the final 20 minutes to get another goal — including an effort by Uriel Antuna in the 87th minute that was ruled offside — but came up short.
Saudi Arabia had one of the tournament’s biggest upsets ever when it beat Argentina 2-1.