The World Cup holders France (ranked fourth) were among the favourites to win the tournament but their recent form had been patchy and they finished third in the European League A group in September. Denmark were expected to progress while Australia and Tunisia looked to take points off the frontrunners to change the narrative.
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Denmark
Tunisia
Tunisia stood toe to toe with the talented Danish team and deserved their point. Although there were no goals both teams came close. Schmeichel smothered what looked like a certain goal from Jembali (43') while Cornelius headed the ball against the post from point blank range (70'). Denmark had the ball in the net (55') but the effort was ruled offside. There was drama in the fourth minute of added time when the referee was called to the monitor to review a handball in the Tunisian penalty area. While it appeared that a Tunisian player had handled, a Danish forward had shoved a defender to the ground first and the referee restarted the game with a free-kick for Tunisia.
France
Australia
The match started with a nasty shock for the world champions when Craig Goodwin fired the Socceroos into an early lead. Two goals in five minutes around the half hour mark restored the natural order of things. With Mbappe in magisterial form, France scored twice more in the second half to complete an emphatic win.
Tunisia
Australia
Mitchell Duke put Australia into the lead in a hard fought and physical contest. During the second half Tunisia wored hard for the equaliser but the Australian defence was equal to the challenge.
France
Denmark
Although France were the better team in the first half they failed to score. In the 63rd minute Mbappe picked up the ball and sprinted down the inside left line before laying it off to Hernandez who played it back inside where Mbappe finshed with a low diagonal shot from close range. Five minutes later Christensen headed in the equaliser from a corner. In the 86th minute Mbappe leaped above a defender and diverted a high cross into the goal with his thigh, a goal that secured France a place in the last 16.
Australia
Denmark
Denmark have looked out of sorts during the group stage and they found the Australia team, full of enthusiasm and energy, hard to handle. The Socceroos deserved to take the lead (Leckie 60') and with Tunisia beating France they found themselves in second place. Denmark were awarded a penalty (71') but this was cancelled for an earlier offside. The Danes pressed for the equaliser but never really looked like scoring and in the end, they fizzled out harmlesly. Footage soon arrived from Sydney, Australia showing fans letting off flares and celebrating in the streets at 4am local time.
Tunisia
France
With qualification already secured, France put out a second-string team against the north African team whose only chance of progressing was to defeat the World Champions and hope that Denmark would beat Australia by a single goal. In the end they achieved the first part of the equation and deservedly so but Australia's win put them out. There was a moment of farce at the close when Griezman appeared to equalise in the 8th minute of added time but the referee was called to review the incident on the VAR monitor which revealed the French attacker had been offside when the ball was played into the box.