FIFA World Cup: Les Bleus, Croatia (Who Smoked Argentina) Advance To Knockout Stage; Denmark And Socceroos Draw; Peru Eliminated

Three more games were contested in Russia on Thursday as FIFA World Cup group-stage play continued.

GROUP C:

At Samara:

Mile Jedinak's successful penalty kick in the 38th minute (shown here) produced the equalizer that lifted Australia to a 1-1 draw with Denmark.

Christian Eriksen scored for the Danes in the seventh minute.

Associated Press photo by Gregorio Borgia

At Yekaterinburg:

Kylian Mbappe scored the only goal of the match in the 34th minute as France locked up a berth in the knockout stage by knocking out Peru 1-0.

Here, we see somebody dressed up as World Cup mascot Zabivaka holding a replica of the World Cup trophy.

Associated Press photo by Martin Mejia

Group C Standings:

1. x-France (GP: 2; GD: +2; PTS: 6)
2.    Denmark (GP: 2; GD: +1; PTS: 4)
3.    Australia (GP: 2; GD: -1; PTS: 1)
4. z-Peru (GP: 2; GD: -2; PTS: 0)

x-Clinched berth in knockout stage

z-Eliminated from tournament



GROUP D:

At Nizhny Novgorod:

Ante Rebic (53'), Luka Modric (80', Argentinian goalkeeper Wilfredo Caballero, shown here, failed to make the save on this tally), and Ivan Rakitic (90'+1) each produced a second-half goal as Croatia broke open what had been a scoreless deadlock at halftime and dominated Argentina 3-0 to advance to the knockout stage for the first time since 1998.

Associated Press photo by Michael Sohn