DOHA: Australia celebrated the antics of dancing goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne whose penalty shootout save against Peru in an inter-continental playoff on Monday saw them to a fifth straight World Cup finals.

The 33-year-old clowned his way along the goal line as Peru’s players prepared to take their penalty kicks and his block of Alex Valera’s shot gave Australia a 5-4 win after the two sides had been deadlocked without a goal for 120 minutes.

Australia coach Graham Arnold brought Redmayne on for team captain Mathew Ryan for the final minutes of extra time as a ploy for the shootout.

Martin Boyle missed Australia’s first penalty but the next five were all on target.

Redmayne danced and jigged along the line to unnerve the Peru players and Luis Advincula’s shot cannoned off a post. Redmayne’s save of Valera’s shot set off wild celebrations among the Socceroos and their band of a few hundred supporters.

Arnold said that Ryan is a “fantastic goalkeeper” but Sydney FC’s Redmayne “is a good penalty saver and at that stage of the game I was just trying to do something that could affect them (Peru) mentally.”

“Maybe that’s why they hit the post,” Arnold said. “They thought they had to put it closer to the post to score. It’s a risk but it worked.”

Redmayne denied he was the hero of the night, saying his routine was “a little thing I do” for Sydney that has “proved quite successful”.

“If I can gain one percent by making a fool of myself then I will,” he said. “I love this team, I love this country and I love this sport. I am under no illusions that all I did was to save one penalty.”

Victory gave Australia the penultimate place available for the tournament that starts on November 21. They will play defending champions France in Group ‘D’ one day later to start their sixth appearance at the World Cup in all.

“I am just so proud of the players,” said Arnold. “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, brilliant.

“What we have been through in the last year and a half with the pandemic, not being able to get back into Australia, players getting Covid, not being able to get the best squad together a lot of the time. The sacrifices they have made. No-one thought they could do it but they kept on believing.”

Peru, 22nd in FIFA’s list and who beat Australia 2-0 at the 2018 World Cup group stage, were roared on by 10,000 fans, most of whom had flown halfway round the globe for the playoff only to see a frustrating encounter between the rivals with few clearcut chances.

A workmanlike Australia dominated the early exchanges, with winger Boyle twice cutting through the Peruvian defence to provide teasing crosses.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with limited efforts on goal until the 80th minute when Australia suddenly had three good opportunities to win the match.

Ajdin Hrustic’s tame free kick was easily saved by Peru captain Pedro Gallese and five minutes later Aziz Behich broke through two tackles and suddenly found himself in front of goal but narrowly missed as he tried to curl his shot into the net.

Then a run down the left by Australia substitute Awer Mabil saw him slip the ball into the path of Hrustic but he did not get enough power on his shot and Gallese saved again.

Nine minutes into extra time Australia’s Ryan was finally tested by a stinging shot from Edison Flores that the goalkeeper saved.

Flores then headed against the post as the South Americans found an extra gear in the closing stages but they were still unable to settle the result after two hours of play, setting the stage for Redmayne to emerge as a hero.

“We had the expectation to make it, we were close but unfortunately it was not the case,” Peru coach Ricardo Gareca said. “We are flooded with pain. We gave our utmost. They emptied their tanks and we feel deceived we are out of the World Cup. We wanted to avoid the penalty shootout.”

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2022