Australia, the team that came to Qatar through the window and, blow after blow, wants to make history | CHRONICLE

With nine wins and a single loss in the European qualifiers, he came Denmark to Qatar. He was, in theory, one of the candidates to surprise because of the great shape he was in. But their stay in the World Cup has been disappointing: they drew against Tunisia in their debut, lost to France (a rival they had won both games in 2022) and could not face Australia. A single point in three games.

On the other side, Australia, the team that went through the window to the World Cup, the team of feats. Knowing almost always inferior, he knew how to give the necessary blows to make history. He did it against Peru in the playoffs and repeated it against Denmark. In the previous one, a tie served him –of course, imagining that France would have no problem beating Tunisia, which did not happen-, but they did not settle and they won it.

At 60 minutes, leckie He took advantage of a counterattack started in a lousy Danish attack to go alone to the rival goal. When he approached the area and the defender came at full speed behind, the winger defined the cross. A soft, faulty shot that left the goalkeeper without a chance kasper schmeichel. A goal and a cry of relief from the Australian fans who were in the stands watching the other group game on their cell phones and who, three minutes before, had held their heads for the Tunisian goal.

Denmarkfrom the feet of Christian Eriksen, attacked from the beginning. Almost always without clear ideas or movements that create danger in the Australian defense. After 1-0, even worse. Desperation made the centers arrive at every moment, but always finding the defense well off.

In the last few minutes, already with the increases in schmeichel Looking for the feat, more out of pride than result, goalkeeper Mathew Ryan became the figure taking a couple of shots or headers.

When the Algerian referee Mustapha Ghorbal whistled the end, the Australian players ran to the center of the field to embrace each other. They were the penultimate qualifiers for the World Cup and today they celebrate their pass to the round of 16 for the second time in their history.

Now fate will put them in front of the first place of the Group Ca quota that still has no owner. If Argentina beat Poland, will be the rival But there are chances with the Polish team, Saudi Arabia and Mexicothe other two teams that will collide this Wednesday.

The influence of the locality

We had already been warned Ienzo Duarte and Guillermo Byrne, two Peruvian economists who created a mathematical model to analyze and forecast some results in the World Cups. One of the variables that the model had was “the influence of the locality”. “It is a variable that the model accepts very well because in the background we have Korea reaching the semifinals in 2002, the year in which they organized the World Cup together with Japan. Or Russia settling in the quarterfinals in the last edition. In fact, it is normal for a host to go through, although that did not happen in South Africa 2010 and it seems that it will not happen now in Qatar.”Ienzo explained to us.

For Peruvians, the locality is important and not only because of the fans and the enthusiasm generated by the fact that your country is the center of the world for a month, but also because of external issues such as the weather.

That is what happened in Australia-Denmark. The oceanic team has played the Asian Qualifiers since 2007, which is why they have played in Qatar on different occasions. “Unless you’re here, you can’t really judge or understand how difficult it is to go to these types of countries and play in these types of conditions in these types of environments.”Mathew Leckie had pointed out in the run-up to the playoffs, but it was a clue to what the World Cup could be: it was going to be difficult for the teams that were not used to playing in a climate like Qatar, despite the fact that there is technology in the stadiums tip that combats the heat of the desert.

Australia celebrates the historic pass. It is not their best generation, but they are in Qatar with the dream of going as far as possible intact. Despite entering the World Cup through the window, they are the first big surprise that this season leaves us world Cup.

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