After 120 minutes of not being able to separate Graham Arnold’s team from Peru, Qatar World Cup qualifiers were limited to a moment in the penalty shoot-out: Redmain on the goal line and Alex Valera on the spot. All Australia needed was the Universitario striker’s attempt to go anywhere except the back of the net. Redmayne was careful not to do it. The images of his expression then, with his mouth open in one of the wider smiles seen on a football field as his teammates sprinted out of the middle of the line to accompany him to the festivities, may prove to be even more famous. by the repulsion itself. Just as John Aloisi lost his shirt as he walked away with the celebration being played over and over again as the years go by, Redmayne’s smile will live on. Australian football has its own moment Tim Krul. Just as Louis van Gaal did in the 2014 World Cup, when he brought up his backup goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen in the final stages of extra time against Costa Rica, Arnold rolled the dice bringing in his third goalkeeper for Mat Ryan. a few minutes before the shot with Peru. It was a bold decision, which had the potential to fail spectacularly. The line between madness and genius is a thin one, often separated by something more than the results and whims of fate. If he had gone wrong, Arnold’s tenure would have gone even deeper than if he had lost to Ryan – who was among the sticks in the Socceroos’ last triumphant shot. But history will now validate the move. Just as his horse racing set the stage for Sydney FC to win the grand final of the A-League Men 2019-20 against Perth Glory, Redmayne came back to haunt him. He danced along the goal line and waved his hands theatrically – a penalty-saving tactic nicknamed “the gray rocker” – before diving to his right and taking a hand in Valera’s low effort. The repulse sparked wild scenes at Al Rayyan Stadium and completed a journey for Redmayne who saw him being nurtured by Arnold during his time in Sydney and turned into one of ALM’s best goalkeepers before the same coach brought him to the national team. club. If Tuesday morning’s match was a boxing match, the Socceroos would undoubtedly have won on points. There was nothing particularly innovative or exciting about their composition – there were a lot of long balls in the canals and hits and hopes for the ram that Mitch Duke is – but Peru showed very little. They looked nothing like the team that reached the semifinals of the Copa America in 2019 and the semifinals of 2021. There were no signs that the team had won a place in the Conmebol playoffs over teams such as Chile and Colombia. It took a set piece in the 81st minute for Ajdin Hrustic to make the first shot of the match, but Australia were able to create the most menacing forward raids until the end of the 90. Passing to second balls, Duke early on, Hruzic fired a shot from just outside the area, but Aziz Behich made a spectacular save. Either out of fear, poor preparation or the defensive discipline of their opponents – or most likely in combination – Peru played the game on the terms of the Socceroos and Arnold’s team gained experience. However, there was an inevitable sense of Australian fear. Terror that somehow the Peruvians would get up and find a way or that the next head of Edison Flores’ overtime would not hit the crossbar and instead would find the back of the net. The fear that Martin Boyle’s failure with the Socceroos’ opening penalty would start a trend and prove to be final, or that the Australian fortune would be exhausted and the hopes that had been raised would be dashed. But it was not. Arnold’s bet paid off and the Socceroos headed for a fifth consecutive World Cup.
