Peruvian footballer Luis Advincula announced he would immediately be quitting the national team after missing a crucial penalty against Australia in the World Cup qualification match.
The distraught right-back apologised to ‘all of Peru’ after his team's 5-4 loss on penalties to the Socceroos thanks to some dancing heroics from goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne.
The elation on Redmayne’s face massively contrasted with that of the Peruvian players who won’t be making the trip to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
The devastation was seemingly too much to take for Advincula who took to Instagram with a now-deleted post but reported by South American media, to apologise for his miss and make his exit from the national team.
Advert
He wrote: “First I apologise to my family and friends for the pain I caused to all of Peru.
"I am the only one responsible for this debacle and my life will not be enough to apologise.
"I got here today, I take a step to the side of the selection. I don't think I have the strength to get up from this. To my colleagues, thank you very much for everything and sorry for so little."
Advincula missed the third penalty for Peru with Redmayne getting a slight touch to the ball which clanged off the post.
Advert
Redmayne utilised his dancing and arm-waving antics to save the sixth and deciding Peru penalty from Alex Valera.
In the immediate wake of the miss, Luis Advincula could be seen collapsing to his knees, absolutely distraught.
Following his team’s loss, Peruvian captain and goalkeeper Pedro Gallese vowed that his teammates would bounce back from the loss.
In a post-match interview, he said: “(I am) proud of my teammates that we got up in the face of adversity.
Advert
"We knew it would be a tough game and it was. We are sorry. It is a great pain for us. Now, it remains to support (the players) who are having a hard time."
Gallese was on the end of some outrageous tactics during the shootout, again courtesy of Andrew Redmayne.
Fans think they spotted the Australian goalkeeper getting rid of Peru keeper Pedro Gallese's bottle during the shootout.
Goalkeepers often have the information about which way penalty takers are likely to send their effort in a penalty shootout, based on all the pre match preparation, taped on their water bottles.
Advert
Gallese wasn’t privy to any of that because of Redmayne.
His penalty shootout antics have seen Andrew Redmayne become a national hero for Australia.
Featured Image Credit: Xinhua / Alamy. Channel 10.Topics: Australia, Football World Cup, Football
