Australia is the penultimate country to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18) after defeating Peru on penalties (0-0, 5 tab to 4) Monday in the host country.
Only one out of 32 tickets remains to be won for the first football World Cup in an Arab country: on Tuesday, Costa Rica and New Zealand will try to integrate the group E record, with Spain, Germany and Japan.
The Australians have secured their place in Group D where they will face world champions France, Denmark and Tunisia.
For the “Socceroos”, it will be the sixth World Cup after 1974, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018, to the chagrin of some 10,000 noisy Peruvian fans present in the Ahmad ben Ali stadium in Al-Rayyan (west of Doha).
In the air-conditioned enclosure which will host seven matches during the tournament, Australia, 42nd in the Fifa rankings, dominated the first period against the 22nd in the world. Coach Graham Arnold’s men shot on goal five times, against two for their opponents, but none of these strikes were on target.
The Peruvians, under the leadership of Argentinian Ricardo Gareca, regained some color after half-time, proving to be more dangerous in the first 25 minutes of the second period.
But the first shot on target arrived on the Australian side, on a free kick from Frankfurt attacking midfielder Ajdin Hrustic, in the 81st minute, inaugurating ten minutes of marked domination by the “Socceroos”.
This was not enough to save them from an extension, where the South Americans, carried by their midfielder Edison Flores, multiplied the chances until the shots on goal. A session before which the Australians changed goalkeeper, Andrew Redmayne replacing Mathew Ryan, “in an attempt to destabilize the Peruvians”, explained coach Graham Arnold.
They took it well since the experienced 33-year-old player and exercise specialist was decisive. After a first Australian shot from Martin Boyle stopped by Peruvian goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, Luis Advincula also missed his attempt by finding the post.
The two teams again tied at the end of the first series of 5 shooters, it was finally Redmayne who sent his men to the World Cup by stopping Alex Varela’s attempt.
“It’s quite surreal, I haven’t realized yet,” commented the goalkeeper, whose clownish movements on the line facing the shooters will be remembered. “But I don’t see myself as a hero, I only played a small part in 120 minutes tonight and I thought the team was fantastic. »
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