DOHA: The Australia men's football team, with a world ranking of 42, secured qualification for a fifth consecutive FIFA World Cup on Tuesday, recording a historic 5-4 win over world No. 22 Peru, in a dramatic penalty shootout at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium here.
A strong team display, along with the heroics of the substitute goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, helped seal Australia's spot in the quadrennial showpiece, set to commence in November this year. Australia join reigning world champions France, Tunisia, and Denmark in Group D.
An emotional Australia head coach Graham Arnold termed the triumph as a milestone moment for football in the country and one that will sit alongside the achievements of the Socceroos' World Cup and qualifying squads from 1974, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018.
The intercontinental playoff marked the culmination of a qualifying campaign that spanned more than 1,000 days for the Socceroos.
They were on track to qualify automatically as one of the top two teams in Group B of the third round of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifying but a three-game winless streak left Arnold's side third behind Saudi Arabia and Japan. IANS
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