Former Socceroo and Gooreng Gooreng man David Williams says Australia's advancement to the World Cup knockout stage is a significant moment for both the team and supporters across the nation.
The Socceroos secured a place in the FIFA World Cup knockout stage after a hard-fought 0-0 draw with Paraguay in California, extending Australia's tournament and setting up a last-32 clash in Dallas.
Australia only needed a point from its final Group D match to progress and finished second in the group, avoiding a play-off route and earning extra recovery time before the next round.
"That was a huge game for us, just to solidify our progression into the next round," Williams told NITV's Nula program.
"Very happy, and I was fortunate enough to watch it with the public here in Perth. Great feeling, to be honest."
Australia controlled much of the contest at Levi's Stadium, enjoying the majority of possession and creating the better chances against a resilient Paraguayan defence.
Coach Tony Popovic made six changes to the side that lost to the United States, handing starts to Cristian Volpato, Nestory Irankunda, Connor Metcalfe, Lucas Herrington, Jackson Irvine and Aziz Behich.
The changes paid dividends, with Volpato and Jordan Bos combining regularly down the right-hand side to trouble Paraguay's defence, while Irvine came close to opening the scoring early. Teenage defender Lucas Herrington was composed on his World Cup debut, and goalkeeper Patrick Beach produced an important late save to preserve the draw.
Despite failing to find a breakthrough, Australia's overall performance was enough to book consecutive appearances in the World Cup knockout rounds.
Williams said the team's growing confidence and resilience would be vital heading into the next match.
"With the way we've performed today, it was a bit conservative. Both teams just needed a draw to get through, so maybe there was a handshake behind closed doors to leave Turkey in the group stage.
"I think we had great performances in games one and three and we've got a great team.
"The mental resilience is definitely building, which will be important going into the next game."
Australia will now face the runners-up from Group G, with Belgium, Egypt, Iran and New Zealand all still in contention to be the Socceroos' next opponents.
Williams believes Egypt would present the more favourable draw but said any opponent would provide a major challenge.
"Look, both are going to be challenging. I'd say Egypt would be more favourable. Sometimes if you can knock off some of the big European giants, the likes of Belgium, that's a great way to progress into the next round," he said.
"Either way the games are going to be hard. Again, it gives our country a chance to come together again in the next few days."
The Socceroos' run has also captured the attention of supporters at home and abroad, with fans gathering across Australia to watch the team's matches despite challenging weather and early kick-off times.
Williams said football's ability to unite people had been on full display.
"It's honestly amazing to see what this sport can do with people, and seeing all the different types of people out there," he said.
"There were schoolchildren, young children, workers stopping by, even construction workers taking a break. It was a really good feeling. Even though the weather wasn't great—it was raining and then the sun popped out for a bit—what we can do as football fans is come together and watch the game. Seeing the number of Australians who've gotten over to America is huge for the country."
The Socceroos will discover their round-of-32 opponent after the remaining Group G matches are completed on Friday, with Australia's World Cup campaign now guaranteed to continue into the knockout phase.
