Australia coach wants more from team after World Cup playoff win

AL-RAYYAN: Australia coach Graham Arnold warned his team they must improve to beat Peru and make it to a fifth straight World Cup after Ajdin Hrustic fired a late winner in a nerve-wracking 2-1 play-off victory over United Arab Emirates in Doha.

The Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder's deflected volley in the 84th minute decided the feverish Asian playoff on Tuesday (Jun 7) in the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium that will host seven games in the World Cup finals in November.

More than 4,000 UAE fans made up the majority of the crowd in the 40,000 capacity arena in the Doha suburbs, where the players were blasted with air conditioning to keep the evening temperatures down.

Australia will take on a dangerous Peru side in the same stadium in a do-or-die clash on Jun 13 in their quest to qualify for the finals and Arnold said he expected more from his players.

"We need to improve more. I expect another big improvement after this game," he said.

"Obviously one game at a time and I thought the UAE put in a very good performance, a tight game, but we have had good preparation ... there was more cohesion with our play and after that game I expect we will be even better against Peru.

"My focus has been on our defence because we have been sloppy, conceding goals in the last couple of (FIFA) windows. We could have scored more, but at the same time there are things that we need to tidy up as well defensively to make it tougher."

Nineteen-year-old forward Harib Al-Maazmi, who scored the winner in UAE's surprising 1-0 win over South Korea that got them to the playoff, was a constant nuisance in the first half.

He threatened after 18 minutes with a dangerous left wing run and again 10 minutes before the break with Socceroos goalkeeper Mathew Ryan making a