He jumps from right to left on the goal line, waves his arms and kicks his legs – and has success: Australia’s late substitute keeper Andrew Redmayne saves two penalties in the play-off final against Peru with his unusual jumping tactic and secures the Socceroos World Cup participation.
Australia has reached the finals of a soccer World Cup for the sixth time. The team led by the two Germany legionnaires Ajdin Hrustic from Eintracht Frankfurt and Jackson Irvine from FC St. Pauli beat South America fifth-placed Peru 5-4 on penalties on Monday evening at the World Cup stadium in Ar-Rayyan after they had lost normal playing time and overtime had stood 0-0.
Substitute keeper Andrew Redmayne, who came on for captain Mathew Ryan in the 120th minute, became a hero. He pulled out all the stops in the goal to irritate the opponent in the penalty shoot-out, jumped around on the line, waved his arms and legs. The fidgeting tactic worked, Redmayne saved two penalties before he went down in a crowd of cheers from his team-mates. The Socceroos have thus secured the penultimate spot for the World Cup in Qatar from November 21 to December 18 in the intercontinental playoff match.
Australia will play in Group D with holders France, Denmark and Tunisia. Peru missed out on their sixth appearance at the World Cup despite passionate cheering from the fans who had traveled to the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium to create a good mood for the World Cup. The 32nd and last place will be awarded this Tuesday when New Zealand and Costa Rica meet also at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Ar-Rayyan. The winner of this game goes into Group E with Germany, Spain and Japan. In the first of two intercontinental playoffs in one of the World Cup stadiums, chances were scarce at first. Two attempts by Irvine to head the ball were also only attempts in the first half.
Australia qualified for the decider on Tuesday last week and only came under pressure against Peru in the second half. Christian Cueva only hit the side netting after more than an hour before the Australians narrowly missed the lead through Aziz Behich and Hrustic just before the end of regular time. It went into overtime. And that too ended goalless, Peru’s Edison Flores hitting the post with the greatest chance.
