Just
A penalty shoot-out ended a powerful draw between Australia and Peru in favor of the former, who meet France in the opening game of the next World Cup to find themselves in a group rounded out by Denmark and Tunisia. An unexpected hero triumphed, Australia reserve goalkeeper Redmayne, who took the field for the epilogue and stunned the Peruvian pitchers with some unusual dances on the goal line.
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Matthew Ryan (Andrew Redmayne, min 119), Aziz Eraltay (Craig Goodwin, min 119), Nathaniel Atkinson, Kye Rowles, Wright, Martin Boyle, Aaron Mooy, Irvine, Leckie (Jamie Maclaren, min 86), Ajdin Hrustic and Mitchell Duke
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Pedro Gallese, Miguel Trauco, Zambrano, Advíncula, Callens, Christofer Gonzalez, André Carrillo (Edison Flores, min. 64), Renato Tapia, Sergio Peña (Pedro Aquino, min. 79), Christian Cueva (Alex Valera, min. 115) and Gianluca Lapadula
Gates
Yellow cards Nathaniel Atkinson (min. 11) and Edison Flores (min. 101)
Peru played with fear, certainly responsible, but also because they started the game badly, a dozen without finding an action that would unleash a spark from them. He was uncomfortable with a rival with a bolder point but very limited. And the game led to an important tostón, without depth because one did not know and the other could not. Everything happened in harsh environmental conditions due to the heat, but in a stadium that has a cooling system that lowers the thermal sensation by several degrees. A la fresco Peru played at an inappropriate pace in contemporary football without making Australia suffer without the ball. And the goalkeepers remained because the Aussies, controlled by some advincula outing, decided they had no reason to take risks either.
In this dynamic of who made the mistake first, it all fell apart. The best footballers on the field did not compete. There was no news about Christian Cueva until after the season. André Carrillo failed to touch the ball and went on the bench at this point in the game with some reproach to his coach. There were few fouls as there weren’t too many skirmishes and few options were generated from set pieces, a detail Australia were able to capitalize on in the header game. Nothing happened until the passing of the clock accentuated everything a little more. “Come on Peruvians, we have to win tonight,” shouted the grandstands. There wasn’t even half a ticket at the stadium, but most of those present spoke Spanish. “Wherever you go, there’s always a Peruvian,” admitted coach Ricardo Gareca the day before, despairing at his boys’ inaction.
Australia felt it was time and went for goal with more power than football. He spotted it somewhere in the middle of the penalty area, but especially when Behich shot and caressed one of the posts of the goal defended by Gallese. Peru collapsed in the last ten minutes that led to extra time but Australia lacked the clout to sentence their opponent. Hrustic got the goal almost in time with a shot from the edge of the box after Mabil exploited Advíncula’s weak defence. It wasn’t the last as Martínez Munuera was still at VAR’s controls investigating a possible Zambrano penalty against Irvine.
Peru seemed relieved at the extra time and upped their level a bit. It served him first to end the suffering and then rushed to a narrow win with a Flores header that slammed the post. At this point, in the second part of overtime, there were hardly any legs left to go eleven meters between the general cramps. There Redmayne was waiting, cool as a cucumber and ready to shred Peru’s nerves.
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