Socceroos qualify for World Cup in penalty shootout 'miracle'

The Socceroos have won a penalty shootout against Peru in a nail-biting finish to secure their spot at the Qatar World Cup after a rollercoaster qualification campaign.

Andrew Redmayne became the hero for Australia after coach Graham Arnold subbed on the goalkeeper instead of captain Mat Ryan as the game was heading into penalty shootouts.

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And Redmayne saved two penalties to spark joyous scenes to send Australia to the World Cup.

During the match, Australia struck the post twice in the opening seven minutes after two long strikes from Mitch Duke.

Peru rebounded and forced Australia onto the back foot with intense pressure.

However, neither team were able to break the deadlock in normal time.

Peru's Edison Flores nearly broke Aussie hearts when he hit the post in extra-time, but the Socceroos survived.

Redmayne then made the decisive save in the penalty shootout to send Australians in Doha and around the world into raptures.

After 1,008 days of waiting throughout qualification, Australia will now head to the World Cup in December.

“I’m just... So proud of the players, you know? No one knows what those boys have been through to get to here," coach Graham Arnold told Channel 10 after the game.

"It was so hard, the whole campaign, and the way they’ve stuck at it and committed themselves to it, incredible.

“Andrew Redmayne is a very good penalty saver, and to try to get him on the mental aspect while we were making that change, to add that bit of uncertainty in their brains, that was, yeah, that is the reason.”

Australia reacts to Socceroos' dramatic win

After 120 goalless minutes, Aaron Mooy, Craig Goodwin, Ajdin Hrustic, Jamie Maclaren and Awer Mabil all scored from the spot to make up for Martin Boyle's miss, before Redmayne denied Peru's Alex Valera to spark joyous celebrations at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.

The victory is also a triumph for Arnold, who will now lead the country to a World Cup finals after fighting to save his job when he missed out on automatic qualification in March.

His decision to bring on Redmayne in place of Ryan just before full-time will go down as a master-stroke with the Sydney FC goalkeeper joining Mark Schwarzer and John Aloisi as a World Cup penalty shootout hero.

"The doubters don't bother me. It's these boys that I care for ..." Arnold added.

"I called out Anthony Albanese the other day, to give everyone, give the fans a day off to celebrate this because I believe this is one of the greatest achievements ever, to qualify for this World Cup the way we've had to go through things.

"Twenty World Cup qualifiers and we've played 16 away from home. It's been tough but we did it."

Following the win, Australia was sent into raptures after finally qualifying for the World Cup in the most dramatic of circumstances.

There was also plenty of praise for Arnold's bold decision to sub Redmayne on for Ryan for the penalty shootout.

with AAP

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