Mitchell Duke’s centered header gave Australia a vital 1-0 victory over Tunisia.
At the origin of the case, the referee expelled a Tunisian.
– If this had hit Sweden, we would have been mad and mad, because this goal was not approved, ex-FIFA referee Jonas Ericsson says on SVT radio.
After losing heavily in their opening match against France, Australia were whipped to make a decent run out of Saturday’s match against Tunisia.
And they certainly had it after a tough and intense battle, with Fagiano Okayama forward Mitchell Dukes, 31, scoring the only goal of the game.
But it was a target met with Tunisian wrath.
There then it was not clear why.
But upon a closer look at the replay, it was clear that Elias Skhiri, when trying to work home to stop the conversion, was inadvertently knocked down by German referee Daniel Siebert’s leg.
“If you affect, you must detonate…”
But the match continued and the goal was stopped.
– Of course, the referee cannot punish the player. According to the rule book, you have to blow and stop the game when the referee stops the ball. But this is not specified in the rules when a referee stops a player physically, says expert and former FIFA referee Jonas Ericsson at SVT Studio when discussing goal placement.
– But it’s common sense. If you impact the game, you must explode the game and bring down the team that got the ball. If this had happened to Sweden, we would have been mad and mad, because this goal would not have been allowed.
Decisive match against Denmark
But it was approved – and above all it was decisive in the match.
Despite the intense search for the equalizer from the “Carthage Eagles”, it was the “Falcons” who had to raise their arms in the air in connection with the final whistle.
The Australian win took them to three points after two matches. Which means they have the chance to secure qualification to the last 16 in their final group stage match against Denmark. This is regardless of what Denmark does in their match against France this afternoon.
And Tunisia? They now need a crushing victory against France in the closing game, as well as some other results on their way, if they are to have any chance of going up.