Tiatto warns Uruguay he will be no soft touch

Danny Tiatto said yesterday that Australia should not allow themselves to be intimidated by "tricky" Uruguay in Tuesday's World Cup play-off in Melbourne.

"You know against the South Americans it's always going to be a little bit tricky," the 28-year-old Manchester City midfielder said. "They like to dive and try and upset you so I think we'll have to go in there and just concentrate on our reactions, really, if we do go in for a challenge. We should ensure we do not retaliate at all because we know they're just going to fall down and try to get you sent off."

Tiatto said Australia's more aggressive players, such as himself and Kevin Muscat – who made a controversial tackle on the France striker Christophe Dugarry in the friendly in Melbourne on 11 November – would not be changing their natural games for Tuesday's match or the return leg in Montevideo on 25 November.

Dugarry damaged knee ligaments in Muscat's tackle, which was described as "an act of brutality" by the France coach, Roger Lemerre .

"The likes of me and Kevin are the ones who do get stuck in and always want to win every challenge," Tiatto said. "Negative media coverage is a little bit frustrating but we're not too bothered by it. We know what we're capable of doing on the park.

"I don't like losing, or backing down to any challenges, no matter who the player might be. No one is going to take that out of me. I've done well overseas and I continue to do that week in, week out over there, so I'm not going to change my game really for anyone."