Socceroos must find last piece of puzzle, says van Marwijk after draw
Disappointed coach Bert van Marwijk said Australia have to find "the last part of the puzzle" if they are to stay in the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Denmark last night.
Australia captain Mile Jedinak hit a second-half penalty, courtesy of the video assistant referee (VAR), to earn the Socceroos' first point in Russia after Christian Eriksen's opener, giving Australia a glimmer of hope of reaching the last 16.
Van Marwijk praised his players who have "improved every day" but bemoaned a lack of clinical finishing after they missed chances to win the game in the second half in Samara.
| DENMARK | AUSTRALIA |
| 1 | 1 |
| (Christian Eriksen 7) | (Mile Jedinak38-pen) |
It followed a 2-1 defeat by France in their opening match.
"We had chances to win and we deserved to win, so I'm disappointed," the Dutchman said. "I fully agree we should have won. Against France, we also deserved more.
"The last part of the puzzle is that we must make the difference by scoring one goal more than the opponent."
Australia must beat Peru on Tuesday to have any chance of going further. In a blow to their hopes, striker Andrew Nabbout, who injured his shoulder after falling awkwardly, looks set to be out for the tournament.
Van Marwijk had resisted the temptation to draft in attacking reinforcements, leaving veteran forward Tim Cahill on the bench for the second match in a row.
It looked a bad decision in the early stages as Australia laboured up front and the Danes tore into their opponents at a furious pace.
In the seventh minute, Aaron Mooy's poor clearance was immediately returned into the area.
Nicolai Jorgensen cleverly flicked the ball to Eriksen, who ghosted into space and lashed a sweet half-volley on the rise which flew high into the net for his 13th goal in his last 15 appearances for his country.
Australia were handed a route back into the match from the penalty spot, thanks to the VAR.
Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz had failed to spot that Mathew Leckie's header had struck the arm of Yussuf Poulsen but, after being alerted to the incident by the VAR, he pointed to the spot.
Jedinak calmly rolled home his penalty in the 38th minute to level the scores.
While Denmark coach Age Hareide did not dispute the decision to award the penalty, he was annoyed they had their own appeal waved away in the second half .
"There are people somewhere in Russia deciding to look at this because it looks like a penalty," he said.
"But then you have other situations when they need to look at, but they are not doing that..." - AFP, REUTERS
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