Coach Tony Popovic acknowledged his World Cup-bound Australia side need to make improvements after the Socceroos suffered a 1-0 friendly loss to Venezuela in Houston on Friday.

Jesus Ramirez scored the only goal of the game seven minutes before halftime when he pounced inside the six-yard box to convert Ender Echenique's low cross from the right and condemn Popovic's side to a second consecutive defeat.

"There's a lot we have to assess, but in the end, we're disappointed we lost the game," said Popovic, whose side lost 2-1 in their previous outing against the United States in October.

"We were probably a little bit too open. Venezuela, technically, were very good and were able to get into our box, and obviously scored a goal, but it was a little bit too easy on our part.

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