Eriksen stunner cancelled out as Denmark held by Australia

Cape Town – A VAR-awarded penalty gave Australia hope of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Soccer World Cup after holding Group C rivals Denmark to a 1-1 draw at the Samara Arena.

It was not much longer before the match saw its first goal as the Danes managed to produce a counter-attack that saw Nicolai Jorgensen flick the ball into the path of Eriksen, who buried the ball home with his left foot in the seventh minute.

And once again it was skipper Mile Jedinak who came to his team’s rescue, converting a penalty awarded by the VAR after some 36 minutes when Yussuf Poulsen was judged to have handled Matthew Leckie’s header from Aaron Mooy’s corner. “When you see this game you must have confidence for the rest of the tournament”, van Marwijk said.

The Socceroos thrive in the role of underdog, and this was certainly the case in their 2-1 loss to France in their Group C opener on Saturday, when they conceded both a penalty and a goal to VAR decisions.

Christian Eriksen wheels away after scoring Denmark’s opener.

Denmark beat Peru 1-0 in their first game and Hareide said he was pleased with their points haul. “And when a wall of 10 men is waiting for you in the box, then they can become very tough to break down”.

After the pleas from Denmark’s players to the referee went unheard, Schmeichel had a few words with Jedinak to rattle him.

Australia will now have to win against Peru on June 26 to keep their round-of-16 hopes alive, while Denmark will face France on the same day.

“It’ll mean an terrible lot, we’re not there yet and we’ll put in an almighty effort to get there but we’ll need luck and that’s why we play this game”.

Denmark began their World Cup campaign with a hard-fought victory against a Peru side making their first appearance in the competition since 1982. However, the game was stopped for a VAR check and referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz soon pointed for a penalty kick.

Rogic was the next player to try his luck, a curling effort saved by Schmeichel, and at the other end Sisto found space but bent his shot wide before Australia were forced into another change when Andrew Nabbout suffered a shoulder injury and was replaced by Tomi Juric.

It would have been easy for Australia to stay in shock at that early Eriksen goal, but to their credit, they barely let it bother them.

“It’s got to be a decisive match in Moscow”, he said, “and I do believe we will advance to the last 16”.