Australia booked their place in the 2022 World Cup thanks to some entertaining antics from their goalkeeper in a penalty shootout.
The Socceroos beat South American side Peru 5-4 on penalties in a nail-biting encounter. With chances few and far between for both sides, Australia felt that they should have had a penalty in the first half. However, Christofer Gonzales’ lunging tackle went unpunished.
Late on in normal time, the Australians created two good opportunities, flashing a shot wide and forcing a save from Peru’s keeper.
In contrast, during extra time, it was Peru who had the run of play. They hit the woodwork via an Edison Flores header but could not find a way through Australia’s rugged defence.
As a result, penalties had to decide the World Cup fate of these two nations.
Penalty shootout sends Australia to World Cup
Interestingly, Australia opted for a change of keepers before the spot-kicks. They replaced Real Sociedad stopper Mat Ryan with Sydney FC’s Andrew Redmayne just before the end of extra time. The change proved to be a stroke of genius.
Australia kicked first, but found themselves immediately playing catch up, as Pedro Gallese saved Martin Boyle’s effort. The two nations then exchanged two successful penalties before Redmayne pulled off his first save.
The replacement keeper tipped Luis Advincula’s penalty onto the post to even up the score at 2-2. Following this spectacular stop, the Socceroos and Peru scored the following five penalties each. Unbelievably, after 120 minutes and five penalties each, the match came down to sudden death.
And it was Redmayne who was the hero of Australia, as he saved the decisive penalty to send the Socceroos to their fifth-successive World Cup.
Of course, this was the headline news of the match. However, the 33-year-old’s hilarious penalty shootout tactics also caught everyone’s attention.
Andrew Redmayne’s penalty antics
Throughout every one of Peru’s penalties, the Aussie keeper bounced and danced along his goal line. His comical effort to put off the takers evoked memories of Jerzy Dudek’s “jelly legs” movements in the 2005 Champions League Final. That being said, by saving two spot-kicks, clearly Redmayne’s wild actions were successful.
Additionally, his mind games were not just reserved for his time in the sticks. Whilst watching his teammates take penalties, Redmayne noticed the Peruvian keeper’s bottle. The bottle had instructions taped onto them – a common penalty shootout feature nowadays.
Hilariously, Redmayne launched the bottle away over the advertising boards; anything to claim an advantage.
After the drama, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold revealed that this was the plan all along.
“Andrew Redmayne is a very good penalty saver,” Arnold told Channel 10 (via Perth Now). “And to try to get him to the line on the mental aspect for Peru, that’s why we were making that change to add that little bit of uncertainty in their brains.
“That’s the reason why.”
Because of his heroics, Australia will be in Group D at the World Cup later this year. The Socceroos join reigning World Cup holders France, Denmark, and Tunisia in a challenging round of games.
Featured Image Credit: BBC Sport
