China 0 - 0 Australia

A respectable performance from Australia - playing under significant tournament pressure for the first time since the exit from the Asian Cup.

Archie Thompson's early injury pretty much forced the Socceroos into accepting a goalless draw. China also seemed content not to lose the match.

Credit to Pim Verbeek for selecting the right line-up considering the conditions. Going with a back three allowed him to pick both Beauchamp and North, who rewarded the manager with very good displays. North looked especially relaxed and although there were one or two moments where he was successfully beaten on the flank and crossed upon he was among the best on ground. Beauchamp was strong in the air and did enough on the ground to make sure he wasn't embarrassed by his his lack of pace.

Carney and Wilkshire on the flanks both had uneven matches but got forward when they could, chased back, and showed good control with some very direct and heavy passing from the centre. We never really threatened the byline or brought in any worthwhile crosses, but it seemed part of Verbeek's game plan to contain the perimeter rather than exploit it.

The defensive effort was pretty strong in the midfield as well. While Čulina had a pretty miserable game in an attacking sense, he worked hard to compress open space in the middle of the park and force China into long diagonal balls. These worked quite nicely for them at times, but probably not as well as short interchanges through the middle might have. Meanwhile, the presence of both Grella and Valeri in front of the back three was the match saving solution for Australia. They generally timed their challenges very well, worked the triangles and distributed in width and depth effectively enough to keep Chinese pressure away from the Australian 18-yard box.

Bresciano--what can you say? He's been hauled off in recent matches for Australia, be it due to tiredness or a tactical switch. Tonight he reaffirmed his importance to the team, staying on until the end and demonstrating that he can even serviceably hold up the ball while waiting for support up front in these times of desperation. He was pretty unlucky not to get a complete foot onto Holman's pass across the box early in the match, ending up with a bit of toe poke at the Chinese 'keeper.

Holman has drawn big wraps for his performance as Thompson's replacement and good on him. The amazing thing about his appearance is that he played in his usual slot about as high up the pitch as Bresciano and Čulina. In other words we didn't actually have a striker on the park for almost the entire game. China really needed to push an extra man out of defence if they were serious about winning the game, but given their present dire form you can understand why they didn't.

Schwarzer, thanks once again for an important penalty save. He created his own problem by not coming out for the challenge earlier, but perhaps Neill should have protected his number one a little better as well. It was a lousy penalty and Schwarzer sensibly kept his dive to a minimum. He was probably a tad fortunate that the spot kick was too soft to rebound off his shins and straight back out for a second pop, but it's that sort of luck you have to ride in order to get through to the World Cup finals.

Now that this saga is over there's time for management to reassess and plan for the forthcoming fixtures in June. We've learnt plenty on this trip and arguably come away with a pair of results that, although a little disappointing on paper, finally reflect some belated understanding and maturity concerning this new gig of ours as a representative of Asia.