Victoria’s own Matthew Leckie stood up when his nation needed a hero, scoring an incredible solo goal in the 60th minute, sending the Socceroos through to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2006.
Leckie was named player of the match after becoming just the ninth Australian to score at a men’s World Cup, joining teammates Mitchell Duke and Craig Goodwin on the illustrious list following their heroics in previous matches this tournament.
The Melbourne City winger said it was an “amazing feeling” to score his first World Cup goal in such a big moment for his country.
“I think in those moments you don’t really think too much, or you don’t have time to think, it happens so fast,” Leckie said post-match.
“It was obviously a great ball and I knew I had one more man to beat, at first I wanted to cut in, and then he went that way and I went back the other way.
“(I went) low and hard as it is difficult for a keeper to save and as the ball was rolling in I saw it was rolling in and I got so excited and so happy.
“I think by the celebration you see how much emotion there was, just so proud.”
Following the victory, Leckie said the playing group always knew they could make it out of the group stage.
“I am so proud, but again we will make the most of it tonight but then it is all about recovery because we obviously have another game coming up,” he said.
“We always believed from day one that we could get the result we needed to get out of the group and now we just need to keep dreaming.
“We had our doubters but with our spirit, our belief, our work ethic, and how close we are as a group it shows on the pitch and that last 15-20 minutes we battled until the end, and it didn’t matter what they threw at us, we weren’t conceding.”
Once the team arrived back at their home base, Qatar’s Aspire Academy, Leckie shouted out the support the nation had shown the team.
“I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your support,” he said on the Socceroos’ social channels.
“We’ve seen the footage back at home (in Melbourne) and it is amazing, and we will see you in the round of 16.”