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Australia World Cup 2022 squad list, fixtures and latest odds

Mathew Leckie - Australia World Cup 2022 squad list, fixtures and latest odds - John Sibley/Reuters
Mathew Leckie - Australia World Cup 2022 squad list, fixtures and latest odds - John Sibley/Reuters

Australia ended a 16-year wait for a World Cup last-16 place as Mathew Leckie's strike earned them a gritty 1-0 upset win over Denmark in their final Group D match on Wednesday.

After a goalless first half in which Denmark looked lively and had more possession, Australia scored on the counter in the 60th minute when Leckie got past the Danish defence and twisted into space before slotting the ball home.

Australia finished second with six points, level with group winners France after the world champions lost 1-0 to Tunisia. Denmark were bottom on one point with Tunisia third on four.

They now face the winner of Group C, pre-tournament favourites Argentina, in the evening of Saturday, December 3.

"I'm proud, exhausted, everything really. It's hard to describe the emotions right now," Leckie told Australian broadcaster SBS.

"We always knew we could do it as a group. We had our doubters but our spirit, our belief, our work ethic and how close we are as a group shows on the pitch.

"The last 15, 20 minutes we battled until the end. It didn’t matter what they threw at us, we weren't conceding. We'll make the most of it tonight, but then it's all about recovery."

Australia World Cup 2022 squad

Goalkeepers: Mat Ryan (Copenhagen), Andrew Redmayne (Sydney FC), Danny Vukovic (Central Coast Mariners).

Defenders: Aziz Behich (Dundee United), Milos Degenek (Columbus Crew), Bailey Wright (Sunderland), Harry Souttar (Stoke City), Fran Karacic (Brescia), Nathaniel Atkinson (Hearts), Joel King (OB), Kye Rowles (Hearts), Thomas Deng (Albirex Niigata).

Midfielders: Aaron Mooy (Celtic), Jackson Irvine (St Pauli), Ajdin Hrustic (Verona), Riley McGree (Middlesbrough), Cameron Devlin (Hearts), Keanu Baccus (St Mirren).

Forwards: Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City), Awer Mabil (Cadiz), Jamie Maclaren (Melbourne City), Mitchell Duke (Fagiano Okayama), Martin Boyle (Hibernian), Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United), Garang Kuol (Central Coast Mariners), Jason Cummings (Central Coast Mariners).

Who are the star names in the squad?

Goalkeeper Mat Ryan is one of a handful of the squad with Premier League experience, having made more than 100 appearances for Brighton before joining Arsenal briefly on loan. He is now at FC Copenhagen in Denmark.

The 30-year-old has played at both the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, so arrives in Qatar with plenty of experience.

What are Australia's fixtures?

Australia will play Argentina in the last 16 of the World Cup in Qatar. The match will be played at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Saturday, December 2 and will kick off 7pm.

What is Australia's World Cup record?

Australia have competed at the Fifa World Cup on six occasions, in 1974 and from 2006 to 2022.

In all but one of their outings at the tournament, they have failed to progress beyond the group stage, with the one exception of 2006 when they placed 16th in the round of 16.

The Socceroos qualified for this year's edition via June's intercontinental play-offs, defeating Peru on penalties, meaning they only just scraped their way in.

Argentina | Australia | Belgium | Brazil | Cameroon | Canada | Costa Rica | Croatia | Denmark | Ecuador | England | France | Germany | Ghana | Iran | Japan | Mexico | Morocco | Netherlands | Poland | Portugal | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | Senegal | Serbia | South Korea | Spain | Switzerland | Tunisia | Uruguay | USA | Wales

Latest odds

Think Australia will make it past the group stages? Check out all the group winner odds

Australia are currently a best price of 500/1 to win the World Cup.