Jermaine Jenas heaped praise on Harry Souttar after the role he played in helping Australia defy the odds and quality from their World Cup group.

The Stoke City centre-back had played just 90 minutes in the past year before the tournament due to a serious knee injury, but he was still called up by the Socceroos.

He has repaid that faith by helping Graham Arnold's side to the knockout stages, with Souttar starring in the 1-0 win over Denmark today, making it back-to-back wins and clean sheets.

And, speaking to the BBC, as quoted by Stoke-On-Trent Live, Jenas credited the defender for his focus and determination to make Qatar, as well as his performances on the big stage.

"It's testament to the lad, as simple as that. He's obviously worked his socks off to get back into shape and be where he is now. You have these moments where you want to trust your knee again and can you do things as sharply? He's obviously put in the work to get him out here.

"He's obviously a top professional and he's put in two huge performances for his country. Their all round game was well organised and they were much tighter in the second half but the two centre-halves were stand out. They really were."

The verdict

It's quite incredible that Souttar is putting in performances like this considering he has missed a year out with a knee injury and it shows just how good he is.

So, he deserves all the plaudits that are rightly coming his way, along with the rest of the Australia side who have done extremely well to come through a difficult group.

Now, all eyes will be on the round of 16 game for Souttar, and everyone at Stoke will wish him well.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.