(Reuters) – United Arab Emirates manager Rodolfo Arruabarrena said he could not have asked more of his players after Tuesday’s 2-1 playoff defeat by Australia ended their World Cup hopes.
The Emiratis, hoping to make the finals for the first time since their maiden appearance in 1990, frustrated Australia in the second half at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium but were eliminated thanks to a late deflected strike from Ajdin Hrustic.
The Socceroos will meet Peru at the same venue on June 13 for a place in Qatar.
“The boys gave everything,” Arruabarrena told reporters.
“This is the end of a chapter and we have to think about the future. We have a lot of young players and we need to keep improving and working hard.”
The Argentine, who succeeded Bert van Marwijk in February, added that he was not worried about his job and that he had expected criticism after the loss.
“I’m the coach and I am accustomed to that, when the results don’t happen, there is criticism,” he said.
“We had a good level for 75 minutes. All of the players were focused and, in general, the team played a good match. It is a blow, but we have to pick ourselves up and keep going.”
(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
