Arnold has spent his life in the Australian game,having played for the Socceroos and been both an assistant coach and head coach at Asian Cups and World Cups. He has now matched Ange Postecoglou as a coach emerging from the A-League to take charge of the national team and guide it to the biggest tournament in world sport.
The coach was emotional in the aftermath of the victory,paying particular tribute not just to his players - who effusively returned the compliment in a series of post-match interviews - but his older brother Colin,who,he said,had been a rock upon whom he could lean all his life.
“I want to dedicate this one to my brother,Colin. When my parents died when I was young I didn’t have anyone to support me,my older brother has been there with me my whole life,he’s the number one,” Arnold said.
The now 59-year-old played at the same club as his older brother - Gwawley Bay Football Club in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire - from the age of six. His late parents,Barry and Fay,were committee members so the footballing bond with Colin runs deep.
The World Cup qualification is also a tick for the board of Football Australia,who were under pressure from the media and Australia’s more voluble Twitter critics to sack Arnold after the disastrous losses to Japan and Saudi Arabia in the final qualifying games.
Those defeats meant Australia was condemned to the nerve-shredding play-offs that Arnold has now helmed them through.