Australia and Paraguay play a scoreless tie, but both set to advance in World Cup
It wasn’t the most dramatic or riveting World Cup match of the tournament, but the Socceroos are moving on.
“It sums up who we are as a nation,” Australian midfielder Ajdin Hrustic said, “as footballers, but also human beings who want to succeed in life.”
The Australian national team officially punched its ticket Thursday night to the knockout Round of 32 on Thursday in the final group stage game at Levi’s Stadium with a 0-0 tie against Paraguay. It wasn’t a blockbuster, with each team combining for just seven shots on goal while none seriously challenged the keepers.
The Aussies came in needing a win or tie to finish in second place in Group D, which was won by the United States, to advance beyond the knockout stage for the country’s second straight World Cup. Paraguay needed to avoid defeat to remain alive for the next round, and are considered a virtual lock to advance as one of the eight best third-place teams from group play.
Both teams being able to move on with a tie — thus the game lacking true high stakes or intensity — is a product of the expanded field and new format. Because without third-place teams being able to advance, only the winner of the match (or the team with the better group stage goal differential, in the event of the tie) would have moved on, which would have added far more intensity to the otherwise bland matchup with both teams knowing they would be just fine with a tie.
Even so, it was a physical game, with Australian midfielder Connor Metcalf needing a bandage after taking a foot to the head in the first half, while Paraguay midfielder Julio Enciso was slammed into an advertising board on the north side of the field.
“I think quite a few of us were hit in the head,” said Australian midfielder Aiden O’Neill, who was named man of the match. “I got smashed in the head in the first 10 seconds or so, and then Connor’s got the big bandage. So you could see what it meant for both teams out there tonight.”
Both sides finished the group stage with 4 points, with Australia getting the nod over Paraguay thanks to their edge in goal differential, 0 to minus-2 for Paraguay.
Australia will play the knockout round next Friday, July 3, at AT&T Stadium outside Dallas against the second-place finisher from Group G, featuring Egypt, Iran, Belgium and New Zealand all within 3 points of each other heading into the final group matches on Friday.
The Americans will come to Levi’s Stadium to take on Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Round of 32 next Wednesday. They beat Paraguay and Australia by combined scores of 6-1. They won the group with 6 points while losing to Turkey on Thursday, 3-2, in a meaningless game with mostly backups in the lineup.
Both Australia and Paraguay play defensive-minded, which meant both teams were unwilling to be overly aggressive when it came to offense. The best scoring chances for both teams came in added time when keepers Orlando Gil and Patrick Beach were forced to save shots on goal.
Australia advanced to the knockout stage for just the third time in the country’s history, and in its second straight World Cup after going to the Round of 16 in 2022 in Qatar.
“We obviously knew coming into the game, what a point (for a tie) or three points (with a win) would do,” O’Neill said. “There’s a lot of emotion that builds up and you could all see how happy we looked.”
This would be the fifth time Paraguay would advance to the knockout stages, and their first since their last appearance in 2010, when they reached the quarterfinals.
The game was dull, but that’s not to say the atmosphere wasn’t festive. The “full house” of 68,827 fans was loaded with boisterous Socceroos supporters. Both teams have their base camps in the Bay Area, with Australia working out of the Oakland Roots training facility in Alameda, while Paraguay is practicing at San Jose State’s Spartan Soccer Complex.
