Australia One Step Away From Qualifying for the World Cup After Beating UAE

The World Cup in Qatar is edging closer and 30 out of the 32 participating teams have been decided. The last two spots are up for grabs and only four nations are in contention for it, Australia or Peru and New Zealand or Costa Rica.

Australia made it to the final of the World Cup qualifying play-offs after beating UAE by a score of 2-1. They will now face Peru in the final and the winner will go to the World Cup in Qatar, joining Group D along with France, Denmark, and Tunisia.

The Socceroos had a great match against the UAE as team captain Matt Ryan made several important saves. Jackson Irvine’s opener was made obsolete just three minutes later through a Caio Canedo goal for the UAE. In the end, it was an 84th-minute volley from Eintracht Frankfurt star Ajdin Hrustic that settled the match.

Australia National Team coach Graham Arnold reacts

Australian manager Graham Arnold was ecstatic after the win and revealed that while the job is not over yet, he was very proud of his team. Arnold has struggled with a fair share of Covid-19 issues and said that it was great to prepare for the game with the team.

“Proud of the boys. We have been able to get together for the last week and prepare for this game well. Being able to prepare the boys was good, and you saw that in the performance,” he said.

Arnold talks tactics after the game

He didn’t stop there and complimented UAE on their performance. UAE star Harib Al-Maazmi was the brightest spot for his team after he tested Matt Ryan a couple of times. However, it wasn’t enough in the end and the Socceroos might make it to the World Cup again.

“We have got to give credit to UAE, they played well as well. But we knew they would sit back and we didn’t want to play a game where we open up the field too much because they have got some quality players,” he added.

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