Soccer-Postecoglou wants Australia to dominate world qualifying

MELBOURNE, March 23 (Reuters) - Australia coach Ange Postecoglou wants the Socceroos to dominate their Asian rivals as they continue their quest to qualify for the 2018 Russia World Cup. Australia host Tajikistan in Adelaide on Thursday and second-placed Jordan in Sydney next Tuesday as they look to wrap up top spot in Group B of Asian qualifying and advance to the next phase. Under former boss Holger Osieck, Australia had to scrape into the 2014 Brazil finals with a late goal in their final qualifier against Iraq. But Postecoglou said he would not be satisfied with sneaking into Russia. "Just getting through isn't going to satisfy me," Postecoglou told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday. "We are looking to build something more meaningful than that. "We could sneak through, but what does that mean? It doesn't really mean anything, getting through to the next stage. "We want to get through playing well, with strong performances particularly here at home. "And then do the same in the second round of qualifiers -- not just qualify for the World Cup, but do so on the back of strong performances and being dominant." Since taking over from Osieck in late 2013, Postecoglou has re-fashioned Australia from a stodgy, blue-collar outfit into a more enterprising team and guided them to victory in the Asian Cup on home soil last year. Australia have only one defeat away to Jordan in the current round of world qualifying, while topping the group with 17 goals from their six matches. Evergreen forward Tim Cahill, the nation's most prolific all-time scorer, has been responsible for six of them, including a brace against the Tajiks away last September. Cahill will be 38 by the time the Russian World Cup arrives and Postecoglou is keen to blood some new strikers, including Greek-born forward Apostolos Giannou, who has been called into the squad for the Tajikistan and Jordan qualifiers. "Historically, we have never really produced an out-and-out goalscoring striker, not many anyway at international level," Postecoglou said. "The ones we have have been one-outs. We haven't had multiples in those areas ... I am not just looking at today. I am looking at two years' time going to the World Cup. "Numbers-wise, we have a handful (of strikers) and we will put a bit of faith and trust that those handful will be enough." Postecoglou said he was also keen to try out new fullbacks, having brought in the uncapped duo of Jason Geria and Alex Gersbach to plug an area he felt was "a little bit thin". (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)