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Australia Just Qualified For The World Cup And No One Is Happier Than Tony Armstrong

The Socceroos have finally qualified for the 2022 World Cup after 20 games and 1,008 days.

by Lavender Baj  14 June 2022
socceroos world cup

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We did it! Australia’s beloved Socceroos have qualified for a fifth straight World Cup after an absolutely stunning penalty performance from substitute goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne — also known as the Grey Wiggle.

After the match against Peru finished 0-0 at the 90 minute mark, Australia’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup — being held in Qatar later this year — came down to a nail-biting penalty shootout. But without our main goalkeeper and team captain Mathew Ryan for the penalties, the weight of Australia’s World Cup dreams fell largely on Redmayne’s shoulders.

Ultimately, Australia was able to secure the victory with a 5-4 shootout that made the 4am alarm worth it.

But if the footage alone wasn’t enough to cue the waterworks, wait until you discover that Redmayne’s victory face was actually a tribute to his one-year-old daughter at home.

If you’re thinking today deserves to be a national holiday after such a monumental victory, you’re not alone — coach Graham Arnold called on Anthony Albanese to do just that after the Peruvian government declared one to let people watch the qualifier match.

“I called out Anthony Albanese the other day to give the fans the day off to celebrate this. Because I believe this is one of the greatest achievements ever — to qualify for this World Cup. 20 qualifiers, 16 away from home. It’s been tough, but we did it,” said Arnold.

Social media was quick to erupt in an outpouring of victory tweets and messages of support for Redmayne — who, overnight, went from a man with a measly two international appearances to a fully-fledged national hero.

But while every Australian fan was ecstatic with the result, I don’t think anyone felt the victory more personally than theย ABC‘s beloved Tony Armstrong, who gave us a Logie-worthy performance the moment we found out the Socceroos had qualified.

In the chaos of celebration, Armstrong had his scarf — knitted by his mum — stolen, but thankfully, the ABC has confirmed that he since retrieved the accessory.

The victory comes after the Socceroos missed out on automatic qualification and were left with one final opportunity to qualify for the Cup. But after 20 qualifier games over a massive 1,008 days, we finally managed to pull through.

While we always stood a chance at pulling through with a victory, the criticism and doubt cast in the direction of the Socceroos in recent weeks cannot be overstated. The Socceroos will battle it out at the World Cup in Qatar in November — marking their fifth straight appearance at the world’s biggest sporting event.

You cannot tell me this isn’t the greatest sport in the world. You simply can’t.