Socceroos resistance thrills Osieck

In a pulsating match that will be remembered for a long time, the Socceroos played for almost a whole half with 10 men to hold the fancied Japanese to a 1-1 draw.

Japan leads the five-team qualifying group with seven points from three matches, five ahead of Australia, which has a game in hand.

"After this game I have only one thing to say: what my team delivered today was unbelievable and hard to describe," he said.

"They deserve all the credit you can give them for the way they fought against adversity (Mark Bresciano's injury and Mark Milligan's sending-off).

"They resisted and all in all it would have been bad and tough to take if we lost that game.

"A point is okay, we are pretty happy.

"Bresciano's early injury and substitution deprived us of creativity and affected our attacking intentions and with a man short of course we suffered a double blow because Japan's midfielders are technically excellent and move the ball well.

"Before the game we knew that both teams respected each other and I think we demonstrated pretty clearly today that we can do a lot with this group.

"Japan are already on seven points but we will get our points and I think today we have sent a strong message (of our character) not just to Japan but to the other teams as well.

"But that's the Aussie spirit, we knew that for a while."

Coming from a German, that comment says a lot about the mental fortitude of this Socceroos side.

Osieck also would have been particularly pleased with the all-action performance of his two strikers Alex Brosque and Tim Cahill, who have not played too much alongside each other in attack.

"We had a very efficient pair up front," Osieck said.

"What Alex brought to the team today was exceptional and I now know that I have another attacking alternative for down the road."

Brosque worked tirelessly all night and was still trying to come to terms with his first-half miss an hour after the final whistle.

"That was one of the toughest matches I've ever played in," he said.

"Japan are a quality team and it is good to know that until Milligan's sending-off we probably were the better team and created several chances.

"I honestly do not know how that ball in the first half did not go in.

”Cahill headed the ball down to me and I flicked it goalwards but it must have hit a defender, that's all I know."

Cahill said he was glad to come through a full 90 minutes after playing so little the last few weeks.

But he insisted he did not go into the match to prove anybody wrong.

The Everton man made a cameo appearance in the friendly match in Denmark 11 days ago and did not play at all in last week's qualifying match in Oman.

"I've got nothing to prove, I'm a Premier League player and I will always do what the coach wants me to do," he said.

"He told me I played well. The thing is I create chances and I score goals, I'm a team player."