Australia, an old acquaintance that evokes Maradona

In their fifth consecutive qualification for a World Cup and the sixth since their senior debut in Germany ’74, the “Socceroos” achieved two wins in the same tournament for the first time in history and repeated the feat of Germany 2006 when they placed among the 16 best of the tournament.

In that edition in Europe, Australia, which only recorded four World Cup wins, lost in the round of 16 with the man who was later World Champion: Italy. In that edition, the Australians had shared Group F with Brazil (champion in 2002, as it now happened with France), Croatia and Japan.

The rival in the distant 2006 was the Italy led by Marcello Lippi, who had advanced as first thanks to the victory over Ghana and the Czech Republic, and the tie with the United States.

In that match, Australia stood even against the Italians and they even had the occasional opportunity to take the lead, but in the end charged a controversial Lucas Neill penalty on Fabio Grosso that Francesco Totti turned into a goal with an excellent crossed definition.

It will be the first confrontation in a World Cup with Argentina but the memory quickly goes back to the repechage disputed in 1993 to go to the United States in 1994 and surely the feeling of revenge will be latent.

with the return of Diego MaradonaAlfio Basile’s team drew 1-1 in the first leg in Sydney, but in the rematch they won 1-0 with a goal from Gabriel Batistuta.

Australia’s journey to Qatar 2022 began with a tough win against France 4-1, despite starting on the scoreboard thanks to striker Craig Goodwin, one of the eight representatives of the A-League.

For the second game, the team changed only the right back and beat Tunisia by the minimum with the goal of Mitchell Duke, who plays in the second division of Japan.

In the “final” against Denmark, Australia prevailed due to the goal scored by striker Mathew Leckie, from Melbourne City, a franchise of the Emirati economic group that has Manchester City as its main team.

The figure in this World Cup is a central defender harry souttar who measures 1.98 meters.

The injuries harmed the initial plans of the coach Graham Arnold, since before the World Cup he suffered the loss of Martin Boyle, one of the figures and the midfielder with Bosnian descent Ajdin Hrustic, the only one who plays in Serie A for Hellas Verona, was recently suitable to play 27 minutes against Tunisia and those of addition against Denmark.

The campaign closed with 6 points, three goals for and four against, and ended below France on goal difference.

Despite geographically corresponding to the continent of Oceania, the Australians have participated in the Asian Qualifiers since the previous one of South Africa 2010 at the request of their leadership due to the abysmal differences with the rest of the countries of the Football Confederation of their region (OFC). .

This change, in addition to raising their competitive level, was beneficial to them to the extent that they got a passport to the World Cup in each of their participations with their rivals from the Asian continent.

On this occasion, it was a long journey of 20 games until the knockout stage where the Australians were the executioners of rivals with Argentine coaches in both games played at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, the same scene of the game that will be played on Saturday, December 3 at 4:00 p.m.

First they beat the United Arab Emirates team 2-1, led by “Vasco” Rodolfo Arruabarrena and then they stamped his passport in the penalty shootout against Peru in Ricardo Gareca.

They achieved that merit with the invaluable contribution of the controversial goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne (Sydney FC), who was sent onto the field at the end of extra time to display his eccentric behavior during the 12-step ceremony.

Redmayne thus gained centrality in the World Cup standings after having spent most of the campaign in the shadow of captain Mathew Ryan, the second most capped goalkeeper in the national team.

The Copenhagen footballer from Denmark, with a past at Arsenal and Valencia, among others, Ryan is a solid 30-year-old goalkeeper, who is playing his third date after Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018.

Graham Arnold, 59, a former defender of the “Aussie” team, took over as coach after the last World Cup, with a curriculum that registered, almost entirely, a past with clubs and youth teams from Australia.