Al-Rayyan (Qatar) (AFP) – Ajdin Hrustic fired a late winner to see Australia to a nerve-wracking 2-1 victory over United Arab Emirates on Tuesday and into a final showdown for a spot in this 12 months’s World Cup in Qatar.
Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Hrustic’s deflected volley in the 84th minute determined the feverish Asian zone conflict in the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium that can host seven video games in the World Cup in November.
More than 4,000 Emirates followers made up greater than half the gang in the 40,000 capability stadium in the Doha suburbs the place the gamers had been blasted with air con to maintain the night temperatures down.
Australia, who will tackle Peru in the identical stadium on June 13 in their quest to qualify for a fifth straight finals, struggled to achieve the higher hand and coach Graham Arnold stated he anticipated extra from his gamers in the following fixture.
“I am 50 percent happy with the team. I think there is still a lot of improvement to come,” Arnold stated.
The coach, who stated earlier than the sport that “Aussie mental strength” would get them via, added when he challenges the gamers again in the dressing room on whether or not they may give extra “all of them will agree”.
Nineteen-year-old ahead Harib Al-Maazmi, who scored the winner in UAE’s shocking 1-0 win over South Korea that bought them into this playoff, was a continuing nuisance to the Australian defence in the primary half.
After 18 minutes his left wing run took him to inside three metres of aim however he couldn’t get a shot away and was smothered by the Australian defence.
The Shabab Al Ahli winger beat the Australian defence once more 10 minutes earlier than the break however Socceroos goalkeeper Mathew Ryan by some means bought an arm to his effort.
Four minutes into the second half, Al-Maazmi once more pressured Ryan right into a low save earlier than Jackson Irvine put Australia forward.
Martin Boyle stole the ball on the appropriate wing, took it into the penalty space and Irvine, who performs for German second-division aspect St Pauli, tapped in on the close to put up.
Australia barely had time to savour their aim when Al-Maazmi once more discovered area. His cross broke to Caio Canedo, a Brazilian who first bought an East Timor passport after which certified for the UAE in 2020, who blasted residence from shut vary.
The sport appeared headed for further time when Hrustic met the ball from a nook that was solely half cleared and his left-footed strike took an enormous deflection to seek out the web.
UAE had been trying to qualify for the World Cup for solely the second time since their debut in 1990. Their Argentine coach, Rodolfo Arruabarrena, stated the UAE gamers “lacked the stamina in the last 15 minutes” to maintain up their struggle.
New Zealand will tackle Costa Rica in Doha on June 14 to determine the ultimate qualifier for the match that begins November 21.
