FIFA World Cup 2018: France, Denmark play goalless, qualify
France and Denmark playedthe first goalless draw of the FIFA World Cup 2018 to qualify for the knockout stage from group C on Tuesday. This was the first goalless game in 35 matches in 15 days of the current edition of the World Cup. In the second last match of group C South American challengers Peru defeated Australia 2-0 to record their first win of the World Cup in decades. The win helped them finish ahead of Australia.
Australia, finished without a win, with two goals to its credit. Both the goals came from penalties and were scored by the skipper Jedinak.
The last group C games saw 33-year-old Mandanda of France making his World Cup debut. He did a commendable job and executed a couple of good saves, including thwarting two versus one situation midway in the first half. Other than that the two teams played safe to a strategy as draw suited them both.
Incidentally, it was the third World Cup encounter between the two European rivals and ended on even honours. While the French had won the first encounter 20 years ago with 2-0 margin, the Danes avenged the defeat four years later with an identical margin. And the third encounter today ended in a goalless draw.
By finishing at the top of the group, France will avoid playing Croatia.
The Peru-Australia game had the South American fans excited after their team took the lead in the 19th minute. Guerrero had a long ball from the centre before he crossed it for Carilo who smashed home for the first goal of the tournament. Aussies complained that Carilo was offside. Their protests were brushed aside as VAR was not activated. Leading 1-0 at the end of first half, it was Guerrero who scored the second goal as he chipped in a neat poachers' finish with his let footer that went across goalkeeper Ryan.
Defeat was a big disappointment for Aussies as they not only ended without a win but also could not score a field goal in the tournament.
