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The Socceroos have yet again shown their “kill or be killed” mentality after a brilliant act of quick thinking gave them a sneak peak at Denmark’s tactics during the famous World Cup win in Qatar.
Vision from the world broadcast showed a Danish instruction note ending up in the Australian team’s hands as commentator Daniel Mann said “it’s not just about the pure football, getting the job done”.
Foxsports.com.au understands the hand-written message was found on the ground and picked up by striker Mitch Duke, who passed it onto the Aussie coaching staff.
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The note, passed on by Danish substitute Robert Skov to skipper Christian Eriksen, confirmed Denmark were switching formation to play with two strikers and also carried the message “believe”.
Australian officials had already expected the change, with Denmark trailing 1-0 and needing to win but the incident showed Arnold’s men are willing to fight, and think smart, to get any advantage they can.
The incident evokes memories of an infamous act from goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne in the qualification penalty shootout win over Peru.
Video emerged of him tossing away a bottle, with notes written on it, belonging to his Peruvian opposite number during the penalty shootout win that sent the Socceroos to the World Cup. The act was dubbed by fans as a classic piece of “Aussie s***housery.
“Yeah, that happened, we spoke about it,” Redmayne said of the incident.
Socceroos react to famous World Cup win | 01:02
“If we had notes on our drink bottle and if someone saw that, it would have been thrown a long way away.
“I know how much it means to the boys so it was kind of like a kill or be killed moment, so I took my moment.”
Arnold’s responded to Denmark’s switch to two strikers by bringing on another centre back and switching to five defenders. It worked effectively as the Socceroos were able to see out the victory that sent them into the last 16.
