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World Cup bound
Australia defied the odds to overcome Peru on penalties in Doha to book their World Cup ticket to Qatar, after the penultimate play-off match for the tournament finished 0-0 after extra-time and 5-4 in the penalty-shoot-out.
The final stage of World Cup qualification went right down to the wire in the early hours of Tuesday morning (AEST) after a scoreless 120 minutes of open play, with Australia coming from behind in the shoot-out as substitute goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne provided the clutch penalty save to deny favourites Peru a World Cup finals berth.
The victory comes after the Socceroos had suffered through a perilous qualifying campaign, which saw them stumble to third place and eight points adrift of group winners Saudi Arabia in the third round of AFC qualification.
A 2-2 draw to Oman and a last-gasp defeat to Japan back in March originally appeared to have signalled the end of the Socceroos’ World Cup hopes, but the Aussies recuperated to defeat the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in the AFC play-off last week before repeating their success in the intercontinental play-off against Peru.
The victory means that the Socceroos have now claimed the final spot in Group C for the tournament in Qatar, alongside European nations France, Denmark and Tunisia in a near-identical group situation to that of the previous World Cup in Russia.
Grey wiggle
Andrew Redmayne could have just as easily been filling in for one of The Wiggles on Tuesday morning (AEST) when he donned the grey skivvy in place of Captain Maty Ryan, as the near-certainty of a penalty-shoot-out loomed over a nail-biting final three minutes of stoppage time.
The Sydney FC goalkeeper’s distractive antics on the goalline proved initially ineffective in the shoot-out, as the first two spot kicks from Gianluca Lapadula and Alexander Callens easily found their way past a dancing Redmayne.
However, the ‘grey wiggle’ guessed correctly upon Peru’s third penalty attempt, which saw Luis Advíncula smash the ball against the upright much to the relief of the Australians and Martin Boyle, who had missed the opening spot-kick.
Redmayne came close to denying Renato Tapia as he got fingertips to the Peruvians’ fourth effort, but it was ultimately sixth-time lucky for the 33-year-old as he made the crucial save to deny Alex Valera, sending Australia through to a fifth-consecutive World Cup finals.
On the decision to bring on Redmayne for the shoot-out, Arnold claimed: "He's a very good penalty saver and I did something that could affect them mentally.
"They were probably asking themselves the question, 'Why is this guy being brought on, he has to be good'.
"Maybe that was the reason they hit the post. It's a 1% mental effort to trouble the Peru penalty takers. It was a risk but it worked out."
Best for last
The Socceroos gave arguably their best performance of the entire World Cup qualification campaign against the Peruvians.
Australia dominated the majority of a tightly-contested 120 minutes at Al Rayyan Stadium, occupying much of the possession during the first-half and threatening to score when Martin Boyle dashed past two Peruvian defenders, before swinging in a cross which narrowly missed the head of a diving Mitchell Duke.
A slow-starting Peru appeared to be rattled throughout the opening 45 minutes as they struggled to maintain possession, coughing up the ball on numerous occasions to allow the Socceroos entry back into their attacking third.
The South Americans dominated the attack in spades during extra-time, but it was ultimately the Socceroos who came closest to scoring as Ajdin Hrustic and Aziz Behich both came agonisingly close to finding a winner before the end of the 90 minutes.
While statistics indicated a relatively even game, with the Socceroos only out-shooting the Peruvians by 11 to 10 and possession being marginally in the South Americans’ favour, the composure and fighting spirit of the Australians was arguably unmatched by any previous match from their qualifying campaign as they impressively levelled with a team ranked 20 places above them in the world.
Minority rules
The victory proved to be yet another underdog story in Australian sport, as the Socceroos prevailed despite being greatly outnumbered in the stands as well as being written off by the media, both at home and abroad.
Living up to the spirit of Graham Arnold’s contentious “Aussie DNA” claim from shortly after their victory against the UAE last week, the Socceroos fully relinquished the underdog tag going into their match against Peru.
This was largely brought on by an overarching focus upon the South Americans’ trail to the play-off from the international press, which comparatively ignored and dismissed their opposition’s chances for qualification.
The Australians were similarly written off by the media Down Under as well, as an overwhelming amount of negativity often surrounded the headlines in the lead-up to the play-offs, with an overemphasis on the possibility of missing out on the World Cup and what it would mean for both the future of the Socceroos and for Arnold’s job as head coach.
An estimated 12,000 Peruvians flocked to the Qatari capital for the do-or-die encounter, with the sea of red and white well-and-truly eclipsing that of an estimated 500 Aussies who filled the stadium seats in Doha.
The eventual victory silenced the many doubters who wrote off Arnold’s men completely, as the Socceroos proved that the “Aussie DNA” is still, in fact, alive and well.
Arnold lost for words
The Socceroos head coach struggled to contain his emotions in the aftermath of his side’s stunning penalty-shoot-out victory in Doha.
“I am just so proud of the players," an emotional Arnold said.
"Really no one knows what these boys have been through to get here, it was so hard, the whole campaign. The way they stuck at it, the way they committed themselves, incredible."
The qualification success for Arnold came after months of media scrutiny and crunch-time talks with Football Australia about his job back in March, as he was subsequently forced to compose himself during a post-match interview.
However, Arnold had the last laugh on Tuesday (AEST), as the 58-year-old managed to repeat his successes as an assistant coach from the 2006 and 2010 qualifying campaigns as a head coach this time around.
“The doubters don’t bother me,” he said.
“It’s these boys that I care for, the game I care for, and I do it for my family.”
