A dance with shamanic accents and voila. Andrew Redmayne acquired iconic status in Australia during a few gesticulations and other antics on Monday evening at the Ahmad-bin-Ali stadium in Al-Ryann in Qatar. The goalkeeper qualified his team for the next World Cup by stopping a decisive shot on goal at the end of the suspense (0-0, 5-4 on pens) and at the cost of an improbable destabilization technique.
We play neither more nor less than the last seconds of the play-off against Peru when the one who is basically only third goalkeeper and has only two caps at 33 comes into play. Penalties are now inevitable after almost 120 minutes without a goal. Coach Graham Arnold then decides to give it a shot.
“Andrew Redmayne is a very good penalty saver,” he told Channel 1 television after the game. “We made this change to add that little bit of uncertainty to their brains. » Guaranteed effect. The third Peruvian shooter Luis Advincula finds the post before on yet another clowning, Redmayne relaxes on his right and stops the sixth attempt of the unfortunate Alex Varela.
“It’s quite surreal, I haven’t realized yet, said the savior after the meeting. 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. “For two or three weeks that we have been here, I have had this idea in mind (to participate in the penalty shootout, editor’s note), he later confided. I worked on some things in training, but at the end of the day it’s heads or tails, it’s either the right or the left. »
The “grey wiggle”
Andrew Redmayne instantly became a social media sensation. He is nicknamed the “Grey Wiggle” for his goal-line antics reminiscent of those in the 1980s of Zimbabwean Bruce Grobbelaar with Liverpool.
Until the end, the Australian red-bearded giant will have put on a show. Since after his parade, he celebrated the qualification with his mouth wide open and motionless, as if amazed. A tribute to his one-year-old daughter, Poppy, his wife confided.
Before the meeting, Australian coach Graham Arnold had warned. “On a technical level, the Peruvians will be surprised at the progress made by Australian rules football. Not sure South Americans were thinking about exactly that kind of technique. The French are in any case warned. For their entry into the World Cup on November 22 (8 p.m. French time), Didier Deschamps’ men will have to expect all possible antics.