China coach Li urges team to 'fight for every ball' in WC qualifier

SHARJAH, UAE - China's national team head coach Li Tie has urged his players to "fight for every ball" in their upcoming World Cup qualifier against Australia.

"We have overcome many obstacles to reach the final round of the qualifying tournament, therefore we cherish every game," Li told the pre-match press conference on Monday.

"After five games, the team is getting better and better, while all the players are concentrated. I hope the players can do their best to play tomorrow's game well," he added.

Australia beat China 3-0 in style when they met in Doha for the first time in the final round of the Asian World Cup qualifiers in September.

"It was a high-tempo game that my players barely experienced before. Now they are getting used to the tempo. I told my players they must play better than the first leg and fight for every ball to create more difficulties for the opponents," Li said.

China now ranks fifth in the six-team group with four points from five games, while Australia sits second with ten points. Li's team has to beat the Australians to keep their World Cup dream alive.

"There is no doubt that the Australian team is better than us, as many of their players are based in European leagues. But nothing is impossible on the pitch, it's important that we have confidence in ourselves and never give up," Li added.

Australian defender Harry Souttar will miss Tuesday's match due to injury, but the Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold said he doesn't worry about the team's defense.

"It's a loss for our team because Souttar is a big central defender, but we still have some quality players. Millos Degenek is very experienced player, he played many European Champions League football, we expect he will have good performance," said Arnold.

"We want to have good performance and look forward to winning the match," he added.