Andrew Redmine tonight became an anonymous putative who never broke the boundaries of Australian league consciousness, a global cult figure, a hero, a rolling gif, a combination of Bruce Grublar and Viji Dodek, a hybrid between an old heart and Mikhail Brishnikov, a man who sent Australia to the World Cup Sat on the bench for 120 minutes.
When he entered the field, a minute before the battle between Australia and Peru for a place in the World Cup went to a penalty shootout, it was clear that the bearded goalkeeper's career would be defined by what would happen with kicks from the penalty spot.
Albert Einstein said the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits, but yesterday at least - to the delight of Australia, coach Graham Arnold and especially Redmine - genius did not meet its limit.
Redmine deflected Alex Valera's penalty, sent Oasis to Qatar, and the rest is history.
Goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne ... Came off the bench for Australia in the final minute of extra time just for penalty shoot-out ... He did this dance on the line every time ... And for the critical penalty kick it worked!
pic.twitter.com/hUb2g9Mevd
- Simon Sandiford (@SimonUpNorth) June 13, 2022
In Redmine's case, it's a piece of history.
She could have been a lot different if Arsenal had signed him when he was tested at a young age, but the Gunners chose Witch that Chesney and the Australian goalkeeper returned home and started skipping from club to club.
He went through five teams, most of them a substitute goalkeeper, until at some point in 2016 he decided that was enough for him.
In a 2019 interview with the Guardian, he said;
"Doubts began to take over me and I felt I was not good enough."
His plan was to combine studies with football and when he finished with them he would become a teacher.
The turning point came in 2017, and it has a direct connection to the events of the game against Peru.
Redmine signed in January at Sydney FC, which was then coached by the national team coach today, Graham Arnold.
Slowly he gained confidence, and after the first goalkeeper left the team, Redmine stepped in between the posts and began to develop the thing that would buy him the nickname "THE PINK WIGGLE".
(The pink dance, due to the color of the shirt).
This nickname was born following the routine that Redmine began to perform when penalties were kicked at him.
It is defined as a dance, but in reality it is about jumping, shaking hands, jumping from side to side and all sorts of movements that past goalkeepers like Bruce Grubler, Dodek and others have done.
Until he started dancing like that, Redmine says he never hit a pendulum, and in the first year of his show he hit four of them.
When Arnold was appointed national team coach after the failure of the 2018 World Cup, he could not ignore Redmine, summoning him to the squad for the first time at the age of 30.
Australian players celebrate qualifying for the World Cup, yesterday in Qatar, Photo: IPI
"I'm not a hero"
And yet, as the game between Peru and Australia approached the 120th minute, the Australian coach had no apparent professional reason to put Redmine at the expense of captain Matthew Ryan.
Until that moment, Redmine had only played twice in the national team uniform, when one of the games was friendly, and his save percentage on penalties also fell below that of the Real Sociedad goalkeeper.
Ryan top throughout his career 22.5% of penalties kicked at him, while Redmine 12.5%.
As he stood on the lines ready to enter, social networks in Australia exploded with bewilderment and bewilderment.
History has presented both sides of such a substitution: the positive side as in the case of Tim Carroll and the Netherlands in the 2014 World Cup which turned out to be Louis van Gaal’s brilliance, while the negative side of Coffee and Chelsea in the League Cup final that exploded into Thomas was tossed inside when the Spanish goalkeeper not only did not top Everyone - he was also the only one who missed.
This time, it came out perfect.
Although at first kicks Redmine looked like a clown who got caught up in a party to which he was not invited, after a few kicks it could be seen that he managed to get into the heads of the Peruvians.
It now turns out that this idea has been running through the minds of Australian crew members for some time.
Redmine in a frenzy.
Years of waiting to jump into consciousness, Photo: AFP
Goalkeeping coach John Crowley, who knows Redmine from Sydney FC, informed him about a month ago that he would be ready for the games against the United Arab Emirates and Peru.
None of the players knew about it, not even the first goalkeeper Matt Ryan, but in retrospect they say they suspected something when Redmine warmed up towards the end of the game against Peru.
Arnold, who made the decision together with his assistant Rene Molenstein (former Maccabi Haifa coach and now assistant coach of the Australian national team), said at the end that he did so because he wanted to undermine the security of the Peruvians;
"I wanted to do something surprising that they did not expect. I wanted to get into their head."
Andrew Redmayne was the hero for Australia ... in so many ways🕺😂
More ⤵️ #BBCFootball
- BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 13, 2022
Redmine not only got into the heads of the Peruvians, he also got into the history books of Australian football.
"I do not intend to take credit for this victory" he said at the end to Australian television and stressed: "The players here wanted 120 minutes and those who did not play gave everything off the bench, we did it together".
In conclusion, the 33-year-old goalkeeper repeated;
"I'm not a hero."
His right to say and think such a thing, but in a game that was like a movie, with a plot twist and great drama, in the end only one hero remained.
Hero - goalkeeper, hero - dancer.
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