The man with the full beard saved the decisive penalty for the “Socceroos” participation in the World Cup in the 5: 4 in the intercontinental play-off against Peru on Monday. For Redmayne it was only his second competitive game for the national team after one against Nepal in June last year. Coach Graham Arnold’s poker paid off. He only brought the keeper in the 120th minute.
“Arnold’s bold move turned out to be a masterstroke, as it turned out,” wrote the Sydney Morning Herald. The 33-year-old Redmayne, who plays for Sydney FC in the Australian league, tried jumping jacks to unnerve the opposing shooters. He hopped on one leg, ran from left to right, and crouched. With success: A ball bounced off the post, Redmayne parried the last penalty. The decision in Qatar’s Ar-Rayyan World Cup stadium had started extremely unfavorably for the Australians, as they missed the first penalty.
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He’s not afraid of losing his bearings, Redmayne assured the German Press Agency after the final whistle. It is only important to be back in the middle immediately before the shot. “I wouldn’t call myself a hero. I only played a small part in that,” said the 1.94m man. He also reported on talks with Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic. “He told me a couple of times that he gave me a yellow card because I’m trying to provoke the (opposing) players. But I said I’m not doing that.” In the end, the referee said he shouldn’t cheer too much if he was successful. “He said we have to check everything via VAR first because you move so much.”
Team boss Arnold saw his tactics work. “I tried to influence them mentally. They probably asked themselves: ‘Why is this guy coming, he has to be good’,” said the 58-year-old. Arnold has been the coach of Australia for three years.
A few years ago, the match winner was still a long way from a World Cup trip. Redmayne’s career faltered, he wanted to stop kicking and become a teacher, working at an elementary school in Sydney. The turning point came in January 2017, Redmayne played for the first time in the national team in June 2019 in a friendly against South Korea. Two international matches have been added since then. Captain and first-choice goalkeeper Mathew Ryan from Spanish first division club Real Sociedad is undisputed in the Australian team.
Australia will play in Group D with France, Denmark and Tunisia in what will be their sixth World Cup appearance and fifth in a row. Her best performance at a World Cup was reaching the round of 16 at the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Source: Nachrichten
