Socceroo coach Bert van Marwijk was gutted by the manner of his team's defeat but delighted by the effort and performance Australia produced in its narrow loss to France.
He was also unimpressed by the VAR decision to award France the penalty just before the hour mark after Josh Risdon was judge to have brought down Antoine Griezmann.
"We gave a very good performance. Nobody expected we could play this way against France": Bert van Marwijk.
Photo: AAP
''I hoped that maybe one time there will be a referee very honest in that moment.
''I saw him standing there. The body language was that he didn't know from my posiiton, and then he had to take a decision. Then you have to take a decision France or Australia."
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''I got a lot of reactions, lets say from 10 people, seven say a penalty and three say no penalty. It's also difficult for a referee to decide in front of 50,000 people when he is doubting.''
Van Marwijk said the referee, Uruguayan Andres Cunha, had initially decided to let play go on.
''He directly said go on. He is also a human being . Everybody makes mistakes, but when you are 100 per cent for sure its no penalty and go and you doubt. You have to ask him.''
Van Marwijk believed his team deserved a draw : "We gave a very good performance. Nobody expected we could play this way against France. A lot of times, they said, the players of France they didn't know what to do.
''If you lose with a penalty … and a lucky goal just before the end,'' he said with a shrug of his shoulders, disappointment etched itno his every expression.
''When you see this game it must give you confidence for the rest of tournament. But its never a guarantee. Everybody could see today that this is a different team and one of the most positive things also is that we showed guts and that we could be ourselves.
''It gives us confidence I think.''
French coach Didier Deschamps praised Australia's tactical organisation and the way it disrupted his highly regarded team, but also bemoaned France's lack of urgency.
He said that the VAR had fallen in his team's favour this time, so he would not be criticising it on this occasion.
Michael Lynch, The Age's expert on soccer, has had extensive experience of high level journalism in the UK and Australia. Michael has covered the Socceroos through Asia, Europe and South America in their past three World Cup campaigns. He has also reported on Grands Prix and top class motor sport from Asia and Europe. He has won several national media awards for both sports and industry journalism.
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