Good and bad of Group D

Argentina were shocked by Saudi Arabia, while Poland and Mexico played below-par

With 32 teams listed in eight groups of four each, the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar looked to be a promising one. Group D consisted of eventual tournament runners-up France, Australia, Denmark and Tunisia. Denmark and France were the two strong contenders from this group to reach the knockout stage, with France being the defending champions and Denmark, being number ten in the FIFA rankings.

Australia

The Socceroos started their campaign fairly early than their counterparts in the tournament, staging protests in relation to human rights. However, once the World Cup kicked off, the intensity of those protests died down. The Australians lost by a huge margin in their inaugural match 4-1 to defending champions and eventual runners-up, France.

Although much to their surprise, the Mathew Ryan–led team went on to win their next two matches against Tunisia and Denmark to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time in 16 years.

There, they competed against world number three Argentina, led by Lionel Messi. Despite their journey in the 2022 World Cup ending in a respectable 2-1 loss, their illustrious run promised a bright future for Australian football, which has a troubled local past.

In spite of their exit from the qualifiers in the FIFA World Cup, there was much to celebrate for the Socceroos. After all, their 1-0 victory over Denmark was the first time when Australia defeated a side in the FIFA top ten rankings at the World Cup finals.

The game against Argentina was also a hard-fought battle. Although the inexperienced Australian players were up against the likes of Messi, Angel Di Maria and others, they still made a match out of it, making their opponents sweat to win it.

Moreover, Australian captain Mathew Ryan and Mathew Leckie, with 10 appearances each, surpassed both Mark Bresciano and Tim Cahill to hold the record for the most FIFA World Cup appearances by an Australian player.

Though the Australian side could not go far in the tournament, they still conquered the hearts and minds of their nation. In response to an impressive World Cup campaign for his team, Australian Football’s Chairman Chris Nikou said: “This Socceroos’ squad led by Graham Arnold have represented Australia and Australian football impeccably in Qatar, delivering the best result for our national team in FIFA World Cup history.

“The journey to qualifying for this year’s FIFA World Cup was a challenging one for the Socceroos, but on the biggest stage in world football, they demonstrated the globally recognised Aussie fighting spirit and determination to match it with the best and make an entire nation incredibly proud,” he said.

Denmark

Grade: C

Denmark were just second to France in the group, yet they had a rather horrible outing in Qatar. In their first game against a weaker Tunisia, the Simon Thorup Kjær-led team remained goalless throughout. Although they didn’t let their opposition score as well, they should have done better in the encounter.

It was the ever-so-strong French side up next for Denmark and playing against an opposition that has players like Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Aurélien Tchouaméni among others, it was always going to be difficult for the Red and Whites to go past the defending champions.

Although Simon and company could only score one goal in reply to France’s two, it was still a good effort to keep French men at bay, denying all but Mbappe who scored twice.

In their next fixture, Denmark had to face Australia, who had won 1-0 to Tunisia the same day the Danish lost to France. The Kasper Hjulmand-managed team had to win this one to have any chance of progressing further.

The Socceroos didn’t let Denmark score in the contest, while Mathew Leckie managed to net the ball once which proved to be decisive as they registered the win 1-0. Thus, Denmark’s hopes of going to the next stage crashed as they headed back home from the group stages.

Tunisia 

Grade: B+

Tunisia started their proceedings with a 0-0 draw against Denmark at the FIFA World Cup. Afterwards, it appeared to be a golden opportunity for them to record their first victory of the campaign against Australia but they didn’t cash in on that.

Instead, they suffered a 1-0 loss as a result of a magnificent Mitchell Duke header, with Australia’s valiant defence helping them to cling on.

Prior to their final encounter of the event against France, the Carthage Eagles still had a chance to qualify, and their cause was aided by Didier Deschamps’ decision to make significant changes to his team after they had already secured their spot in the last 16 with one game remaining.

Wahbi Khazri’s goal in the second half gave the North African team a memorable victory over the football giants, but Australia squeezed over Denmark to claim second place in Group D.

While just conceding one goal in the group stage, which included France and Denmark, was praiseworthy, while scoring only once was a cause of concern as well.

Though Tunisia surprised many and put on a good show against top teams, they need to be more proactive with their attack to become a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.

France 

Grade A+

France looked invincible throughout the campaign, looking favourites to defend their title successfully. And it took all the brilliance of one of the greatest of the game, Lionel Messi, to halt their run in the final.

The French side was dominant in the World Cup, to say the least, apart from that one upset against Tunisia where they were stunned 1-0.

The Didier Deschamps-managed team had a fairytale World Cup as they were unstoppable from the start.

Their opening 4-1 win came against Australia and so they went into the next group game against Denmark with a lot of confidence. Although they could not dictate the terms against the Danish team as they did against the Socceroos, The Blues managed to go past them 2-1.

Tunisia, however, came as a shock for France, putting the world champions to the sword and clinching a famous 1-0 win. It was a game that the French team would rather have to forget before heading into the round of 16 where they met Poland who were again just not enough for a motoring French attack.

Kylian Mbappe leading taking the charge, scored two, while Olivier Giroud scored once to clinch the win 3-1 to progress to the quarterfinals.

England were next up against France in the all-important super eight contest. Tschouameni was too good in the game as he opened France’s account in the 17th minute before the England captain Harry Kane won two penalties, converting one into a goal while missing one.

Meanwhile, Giroud scored the second goal for France in the 78th minute to again attain a lead against the Three Lions.

The French defence kept the English attack out of their goal, ensuring their place in the semi-finals against the surprise package, Morocco.

France were declared favourites before the semi-finals and it was exactly what happened. However, the first African side to ever qualify for the semi-finals did not give it easy to France and made them work hard for their 2-0 win. Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani scored the goals for the then-reigning champions.

France, just one more game away from ruling the world once again, faced off the other tournament favourites Argentina, led by the little genius Messi. It was a shot at glory for Argentina and Messi as he had all the trophies in the cabinet except for this one FIFA World Cup trophy.

Probably, it was the last chance for the southpaw to bring joy to the fans after years of sheer hard work and longing. Majority of the football fans across the globe were rooting for Argentina because of Messi. While France did not look any less on paper as well.

It was an epic contest, rated as probably the best World Cup final ever. Messi won a penalty in the first half to give his side the lead. France on the other hand looked pretty ordinary with their defence as well as attack as they were unable to even get close to the Argentinian goal.

Argentina double their lead when Angel Di Maria bludgeoned one into the nets in the 36th minute, just 13 minutes after Messi’s goal. The two opening goals seemed enough for France by the 45-minute mark.

However, France, especially Mbappe, had other plans. Just when it looked like the game had slipped out of The Blues’ reach, the 24-year-old did what he does best. First, he converted a penalty into a goal in the 80th minute and then scored an equaliser in just the next minute.

What seemed Argentina’s game fair and square just moments ago now hung in balance. With the full-time whistle blown, the scores remained level at 2-2. It meant that another decisive half-hour of exciting football was left.

Well, it was Messi’s night and there was no one taking the spotlight off him. He helped his team take the lead once again in the first half of the extra 30 minutes. But the hero for France couldn’t be kept quiet as he again came to the rescue, scoring the third for his team in the 118th minute, only to take the game into the penalties to decide who would be crowned the champions.

However, it was Argentina who held their nerves to win the penalties 4-2 and lift the trophy, but France, especially Mbappe, deserved all the praise for putting up a fantastic show.

All in all, France played exceptional football throughout the tournament. And if the stars were not aligned to announce Messi as the GOAT, it would probably be The Blues lifting the trophy again.