Socceroos advance to World Cup finals with dramatic shootout win
Goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne has etched his name into Australian sporting history as the Socceroos qualified for this year’s World Cup with a penalty shootout win over Peru in Qatar.
Australian players celebrate a dramatic penalty shootout win over Peru to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2022. Photo: Noushad Thekkayil/EPA.
Brought into the game moments before full-time in place of captain Maty Ryan, Redmayne saved Peru’s sixth penalty as Australia won the shootout 5-4 to qualify for November’s tournament.
It’s the fifth time in a row Australia will be at the World Cup finals.
After 120 goalless minutes, Aaron Mooy, Craig Goodwin, Ajdin Hrustic, Jamie Maclaren and Awer Mabil all scored from the spot to make up for Martin Boyle’s miss before Redmayne denied Peru’s Alex Valera to spark joyous celebrations at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
The victory is also a triumph for Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, who will now lead the country to a World Cup finals after fighting to save his job when he missed out on automatic qualification in March.
His decision to bring on Redmayne in place of Ryan just before fulltime will go down as a master-stroke with the Sydney FC goalkeeper joining Mark Schwarzer and John Aloisi as a World Cup penalty shootout hero.
The dramatic finish came after a goalless 120 minutes, with Peru going closest to breaking the deadlock when substitute Edison Flores hit the post with a header in the second period of extra-time.
Earlier, Australia made the early running in a stadium dominated by Peruvian fans, with Mitch Duke flashing a couple of early efforts past the goal.
In the 20th minute, Boyle surged past two defenders into the box but his driven cross was just too far in front of Duke for the striker to make any contact.
Peru grew into the half but also failed to get an effort on target in the opening 45, with Andre Carrillo and Luis Advincula in particular combining dangerously on the right.
Both teams kept scrapping for the upper hand in the second-half with Peru carving out the clearer opportunities.
The first shot on target for either team came via Hrustic in the 81st minute but his long-range free-kick was easily claimed by Peru captain Pedro Gallese.
Four minutes later, Aziz Behich just failed to bend a skidding effort on target after the left-back picked up a loose ball and beat two Peruvians before having a shot from outside the box.
Hrustic nearly stole the win for Australia in the 88th minute when he was found by substitute Mabil’s cutback but Gallese just managed to keep the midfielder’s shot from squirming in.
– AAP
