‘Up all night to get Leckie’: How the internet reacted to Australia’s World Cup victory over Denmark

Belief, energy and focus.

These were the words Graham Arnold used, speaking after the Socceroos remarkable 1-0 win over Denmark on Thursday morning.

World Cups are contested on a tightrope; single errors can decide games, single games can make or break campaigns, and if you look down and start to wobble, you’re dead.

This morning, the Socceroos believed, focused their minds, and summoned the energy to walk, step by purposeful step across the void to the World Cup’s round of 16.

Here’s how the internet reacted.

The match kicked off at 2am AEDT, the most viciously inhospitable of hours, but Federation Square in Melbourne was packed.

In Qatar, former Socceroos were there to support their old teammates.

At home, fighting their circadian rhythms, the faithful watched on as the Socceroos took on the world’s 10th ranked team.

Denmark assumed control of the match immediately, and Australia shrunk back into their defensive third, barely touching the ball for the opening 15 minutes.

Was this to be the plan? Defend from the very start, all the way to the distant finish? The Socceroos defensive block was sturdy, sure, but in Manchester United’s Christian Eriksen, Denmark had a player capable of sending a pass like a spike straight through it.

To contest a football match and enjoy so little possession must be demoralising, but the Socceroos resisted the urge to abandon their defensive stations and go AWOL looking for a bit of ball at their feet. 

And indeed, the Danes began to tire slightly, punching themselves out, as their attacks were repelled.

It was 0-0 at half-time, and with the scoreline the same in the game between France’s second team and Tunisia, the Socceroos were on track to go through.

Halfway across the tightrope, then.

The second half began as the first had ended, with the Dane wane continuing, and the Aussies sensing an opportunity to score might come along.

And then we got word that Tunisia had scored against France, and that if that lead was maintained, a draw would not be enough for Australia to progress.

Australia had worn itself into a defensive groove, but now had to get out of it and on the attack.

And Mathew Leckie decided to stage that attack on his own.

Two passes out of defence, and Leckie was streaking upfield, the lone soldier who had gone over the top, leading the charge into enemy territory, with his sabre pointed forwards.

A swerve inside, a swerve outside, and then a shot across Kasper Schmeichel; it was a frightening display of va-va-voom athleticism, tight ball control and precise finishing, a laser beam fired through the haze, and Australia had once again at this World Cup scored first.

Federation Square was otherworldly.

The fans online were in raptures.

But, even with the wind at our back, the remainder of the match appeared a dreadful ordeal, one the Socceroos would have to endure.

A harrowing wobble occurred when the referee decided it would be a fun joke to award a penalty against Australia then immediately wave it off as the Danish attacker who had been apparently fouled had been offside.

Their desperation betraying them, Demark began firing crosses into the Australian penalty area — with Harry Souttar standing in that very spot, they may as well have been crossing to a teammate being man-marked by Godzilla.

Defensive-minded substitutes Keanu Baccus and Bailey Wright were brought on to shore things up. 

The Socceroos were nearly there, just a few more steps down that tightrope, as the country and its Prime Minister watched on, nerves shredded.

The final whistle sounded — a green and gold foot was placed firmly on solid ground in the next round — and the joy that had been percolating for 16 years of group stage exits erupted.

And now, with the result gleaming in front of us, the full robust majesty of this Socceroos performance came into view as well; the stoic discipline, the lung-burning endeavour, the fortitude of spirit and mind. 

This wasn’t some tactical triumph by Graham Arnold and his team here, indeed it was a fairly rudimentary game plan that required a single chance be taken and no small amount of luck.

But it also depended entirely on all those things you can’t set out on a whiteboard, on belief, spirit, and pride, those ephemeral billowing forces that have to be conjured up and somehow maintained, and, crucially, believed in until they carry you across that tightrope. 

A date with destiny awaits in the Round of 16.

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