Trust the Wiggle

As the clock approached 6:30am on the Australian eastern seaboard, weary football fans were glued to their devices, the soundtrack of their early morning merely the gasps and moans as yet another Australian shot whistled pass the goal, or the intimidating crack of a mighty Peruvian header rattling the framework in the death minutes.

A qualifying campaign that had started three years and one pandemic earlier, one with more twists than a Goosebumps novel and more troughs than a stable, had been reduced to a single game of variance, the odds of skullduggery high, the chances of anxiety guaranteed.

Throughout the previous month, the noise and chatter around Graham Arnold’s tenure as the Socceroos coach had reached a cacophonous crescendo. Where once there was hope, a nation had, without admitting it outwardly, resigned itself to a first World Cup miss since 2006 and the Golden Generation.

I don’t want this to turn into a full dissertation on the current state of Australian football, those are words for another, drearier day. But I will say this.

The calls of some hoping for Australia to miss the World Cup in order to “force a reset” are utterly bemusing at best and downright dangerous at their core. Planning for failure, or indeed, waiting for ultimate failure to be the catalyst for your organisational and cultural change, is reactive, alarming and generally the fool’s gambit.

The main reason failed leaders remain in charge for so long isn’t because of innocent mismanagement, it’s an organisational failure built on an inability to recognise weeds before they become thickets.

To that end, I think there’s a general consensus that Arnold’s time will probably come to an end after the World Cup in Qatar at the back end of 2022, regardless of whatever miracles he may produce with a squad that so clearly, for all their perceived technical faults and lack of big league representation, play above their station on emotion and will, and obviously love playing for Arnie the man.

But today is not a day to yearn for the next era, it’s to celebrate the now. And let’s be honest, for as much as the “Aussie spirit” is a somewhat tired trope used by battle hardened veterans from a bygone era to explain away some mythical underdog mentality, you can’t get much more “Aussie DNA” than the effort from the men in green and gold in Doha in the wee hours of a cold winter Tuesday.

A ragtag bunch, held together in some instances by gaffer tape and chewing gum, running on fumes and want to.

A squad so hesitant in its strikeforce they started a winger in Mat Leckie vs. the UAE.

A squad still searching for the right mix at fullbacks (shoutout to Nathaniel Atkinson, who I thought had a great bounceback after being burned against the UAE).

A squad relying on the waning legs of a criminally underdone Aaron Mooy for over 200 minutes in a midfield anchor role where his best defensive years have gone by.

A squad tattered by late injuries and absentees, in Tom Rogic, in Trent Sainsbury, in Adam Taggart and in Jason Davidson.

At the end of the day, for these two one off fixtures, Australia didn’t need tactical guidance so much as it needed conviction and empowerment within.

How else do you explain the sudden international rise of Kye Rowles, who turned in an assured, measured Man of the Match display to turn the Peruvians away again and again?

How else do you explain the bounceback from Atkinson and Aziz Behich, the wingbacks turning from a point of weakness to a much needed outlet from the back?

How else do you explain Ajdin Hrustic growing into his role as the new talisman of this next generation of Socceroos?

But most of all, how do you explain the Grey Wiggle?

I can only imagine the collective sigh of disbelief that lifted across the nation when the camera panned across to the readying substitutes in the 118th minute.

Craig Goodwin? Ok good, he’s maybe Australia’s best set piece exponent and noted penalty taker for club Adelaide United.

…Andrew Redmayne? Are you sure?

There are diverging schools of thought with how you approach goalkeepers for a penalty shootout, especially if you think you have a “shootout expert” as your backup keeper. As a Chelsea fan, I can tell you the tactic of substituting in a “shootout keeper” can horrendously backfire, as evidenced by Thomas Tuchel bringing on Kepa Arrizabalaga for Edouard Mendy during the FA Cup Final.

Kepa proceeded to not save any Liverpool shot, and then skied his own penalty into orbit to hand the Reds the trophy (that hurt to re-live).

For the uninitiated (and there were a lot of them when the first Peruvian penalty taker stepped up and the dancing routine began), Andrew Redmayne was the hero in the 2019 A-League Grand Final, saving two penalties (although one was the weakest panenka you’ll ever see from Brendan Santalab).

Making a call that big on a stage that big takes real guts and inner confidence. Trusting “your guy” based on one event in a situation of high variance, over your national captain, most capped player in the squad, and general leader, is a recipe for national outrage should it blow up in his face.

Except it didn’t. Redmayne justified the faith and the conviction, and while his Dancing Wiggle routine certainly has its fair share of detractors and critics among the goalkeeping purists and wider football fanbase, when his nation needed him most, he repelled Alex Valera’s tame penalty.

It was a moment born of trust.

It was a moment born of conviction.

It was a moment that lifted the spirits of an entire nation, and through a dark, soulless patch of Australian football, maybe just once, we can give some credit where it’s due.

So well done Arnie, and bring on Qatar.