‘I found out when you guys did’: Ryan and Beach didn’t know goalkeeper switch was coming

July 4, 2026 — 1:41pm

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The shock goalkeeper switch was a plan hatched weeks in advance.

No, not this one; the other one, in June 2022. When Andrew Redmayne became mainstream famous as the “Grey Wiggle”. When then Socceroos coach Graham Arnold did the unthinkable during the dying embers of extra-time against Peru, and replaced captain Mat Ryan with the bearded friendly giant he believed would win the subsequent penalty shootout to qualify for the Qatar World Cup.

Everybody knows the story about that qualifying playoff, with Redmayne’s distracting dance floor antics and water bottle shithousery, and the decisive dive to palm away Alex Valera’s spot kick. What became clear after the game was that the option had been on the table for weeks and Redmayne knew about that.

“The longer the camp went on the more comfortable I felt with this scenario,” Redmayne said at the time. “I don’t think any of the players knew about it. A few clocked on at half-time because I went through a few drills to keep the eye in. Maty was full of support coming off, and then just before penalties as well. He was pumping me up and getting me ready. Maty didn’t know. He said, ‘All the best mate, this is your time’.”

Four years later, Arnold’s successor Tony Popovic implemented an almost identical surprise substitution in Australia’s 2026 World Cup round-of-32 clash with Egypt. Only this time it wasn’t Ryan hooked for Redmayne, but Patrick Beach hooked for........

© Brisbane Times