Andrew Redmayne is known as "Redders", or the "Grey Wiggle" — but, after a few frantic minutes in Doha this morning, he is now known as the unlikely hero of Australia's qualification for the World Cup in Qatar.
Redmayne was on the pitch in Doha for a little over 10 minutes against Peru, but the substitute goalkeeper's save from Alex Valera sealed victory for the Socceroos and turned him into an instant internet star.
Barring injuries, there is only one goalkeeper in any football side, unless you're about to go to penalties in a decisive World Cup play-off — in which case you swap in a second one if you're Socceroos coach Graham Arnold.
Arnold pulled the same lever as Dutch national team coach Louis van Gaal, who chose a World Cup quarter-final in 2014 to sub out stopper Jasper Cillessen in favour of Tim Krul right before the end of extra time against Costa Rica.
The Dutch went on to win the penalty shootout.
It worked, again, for Arnold.
Redmayne has been a goalkeeper in the A-League for 14 seasons, playing for five different clubs.
After playing a handful of times for the Central Coast Mariners and the Brisbane Roar, he has had more productive stints at Melbourne City, Western Sydney Wanderers and most recently at Sydney FC, where he was part of two A-League title-winning teams in 2019 and 2020.
Off the back of his form for the Sky Blues, he made his Socceroos debut as a starter in a friendly against South Korea in 2019, making several good saves in a 1-0 loss.
The problem he faced was the presence of the Socceroos' first-choice between the sticks, Mat Ryan, who has been the last line of defence for Australia in two World Cups.
Throughout Australia's lengthy World Cup qualification process, Ryan has remained the top pick, and so he was again for 117 of the 120 minutes against Peru in Doha.
When coach Arnold opted to bring Redmayne off the bench with three minutes left before the end of extra time, it was the 33-year-old's third appearance in an Australian shirt.
Cue the Grey Wiggle, as Redmayne is known for his antics when facing penalties.
As the Peruvian players made their approach, Redmayne danced along the line, waving his arms furiously, wiggling his hips and moving from side to side at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
The key moment was the 12th penalty of the night, Peru's sixth.
After Redmayne did his routine again, capering on one leg, crouching down and jumping up to put off Alex Valera, he planted his feet just long enough to get set, then dived correctly to his right and blocked the ball away.
Elated, he got up and stood with his eyes wide, and mouth wide open as his teammates rushed in to mob him.
"I'm a bit lost for words," Redmayne said afterwards.
"It's a team game, it's a team effort, so I can't take any more credit than any of the other 27 [players] who are here.
"This idea was floated pre-selection that this might eventuate in these kind of circumstances, and for the two or three weeks we've been here [in Qatar], I've kind of had that in my mind.
"I've been working on a few things in training but, at the end of the day, it's a flip of the coin — it's either right or left."
His teammates, coach and millions of Australian fans will disagree about his hero status, forever glad he chose right for that final penalty, ensuring that Redmayne goes down in Socceroos' history alongside the likes of 'keeper Mark Schwarzer against Uruguay in 2005.
ABC/Reuters
