Mile Jedinak admits Australia lost the physical battle against Iraq in their tense 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw in Tehran on Thursday.

An awful pitch at PAS Stadium and constant rain made for scrappy contest, but Australia struggled to deal with Iraq's constant bombardment of long balls.

Coach Ange Postecoglou said they were second-best in the air, an area that has traditionally been the team's strength, and invited pressure upon themselves.

It was a surprise considering so many of the Socceroos ply their trade in the English Championship, where many games descend into a similarly hard slog.

"It's not difficult to hear -- we as a group, and me as the captain of the team, take responsibility for that," Jedinak said. "It caused us more problems than it should have done, no doubt about that. Especially with the way we set out, we knew that would more than likely happen.

"I know there was a lot of contested ball at the back that we should have won, particularly in the first half. It's more about where are our other bodies, where's the support, where are we tucked in.

"A couple of times we did let ourselves down on that. We'll have to address it."

The Socceroos managed to take the lead through a Mathew Leckie header in the 40th minute and had their chances to score a second but failed to convert -- which is why Jedinak said substitute Ahmed Yasin's 76th-minute equaliser "stung so much."

"[We] needed another goal," he said. "We had a couple of chances, and if we'd gone two goals up then Iraq might still have thrown the kitchen sink but they'd have been a lot more ragged.

"It's disappointing to concede after all that pressure, the boys are hurting but we have to move forward."

Australia are back in action on Tuesday night in Sydney against the United Arab Emirates.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by AAP

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