“Off the chain” – Twitter reacts as Australia beat Peru on penalties to qualify for the 2022 World Cup
Australia have staged an incredible penalty shoot-out win over Peru to secure a place at the 2022 World Cup.
The intercontinental play-off between the sides, who shared a group at the 2018 World Cup, was a 120 minutes of brutal slog in the Qatar heat. It went all the way down to penalties when Australia’s coach Graham Arnold made a bold call.
He subbed off Australia’s starting goalkeeper Mat Ryan, bringing on Sydney FC’s Andrew Redmayne. The gamble paid off as Redmaybe’s memeable dancing on the goal-line distracted Peru enough to allow Australia to sneak the shoot-out win.
This will be the sixth World Cup appearance in the history of the Australian men’s side and their fifth in a row as they have appeared at every tournament since 2006. They will go into Group D with France, Denmark and Tunisia, a group which includes two rematches from 2018 as they played France and Denmark in the group stages in Russia as well.
The shoot-out started poorly for Australia as Martin Boyle saw his spot-kick saved by Peru’s Pedro Gallese. But Australia rebounded from this to slam home their next five spot-kicks while Peru threw away their advantage through Luis Advincula.
Trying to avoid the flailing limbs of Redmaybe, the locomotive of a right-back slammed his spot-kick off the post, levelling things. The next five penalties were scored by then substitute Alex Valera saw his spot-kick saved by Redmayne, giving Australia the dramatic win.
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Twitter, naturally, had something to say about Redmayne’s antics. Some like Jack Collins were just astounded:
This dancing on the line from Redmayne is absolutely off the chain 😂
— Jack Collins (@jackjcollins) June 13, 2022
Others made jokes:
Andrew Redmayne pic.twitter.com/FlbBNx10dU
— Ben McAleer (@BenMcAleer1) June 13, 2022
BREAKING: Chile claim that Andrew Redmayne was in fact born in Colombia and request Australia's place in the World Cup.
— Daniel Edwards 💚 (@DanEdwardsGoal) June 13, 2022
https://twitter.com/tinshh/status/1536452550282600449
Most unhinged performance by a Redmayne since… pic.twitter.com/s4rcoUxsva
— Lars Sivertsen (@larssivertsen) June 13, 2022
Now I know where the Australia keeper got his moves from. pic.twitter.com/YgsMVgn5Hc
— Daniel Edwards 💚 (@DanEdwardsGoal) June 13, 2022
While Kim McCauley added a bit of knowledge to her jokes, pointing out the staggering gamble that Graham Arnold took:
https://twitter.com/lgbtqfc/status/1536451822969311233
And, of course, the gamble worked!
OFFICIAL: Australia have beaten Peru on penalties to secure their place at the 2022 World Cup. 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/dsDbEUSRAW
— Play Squawka Selector for Free (@Squawka_Live) June 13, 2022
Peru miss the World Cup and their favourite bear is getting photoshopped into Rwanda deportation memes… a bad night for Paddington fans all round.
— Greg Johnson (@gregianjohnson) June 13, 2022
Some were understandably baffled:
https://twitter.com/Nigerianscamsss/status/1536452414907228160
Others just exclaimed:
AUSTRALIA TO THE WORLD CUP
— Matteo Bonetti (@Bonetti) June 13, 2022
But as always, Redmayne was the story:
I think Australia 🇦🇺 just danced their way to the World Cup.
— Tactical Manager (@ManagerTactical) June 13, 2022
Andrew Redmayne was ready to quit football altogether in 2016 after a difficult stint at Western Sydney.
Was ready to chuck it in and become a school teacher.
Turned his career around at @SydneyFC.
Now he’s sent the @Socceroos to the World Cup and is a national hero.
— Daniel Garb (@DanielGarb) June 13, 2022
Well, if it hadn’t worked he would have been a figure of fun forever. But it did. What a mad world!
Big pleased for @JarradHD & @ElMengem 🇦🇺pic.twitter.com/1K75osjbre
— Jack Collins (@jackjcollins) June 13, 2022
