Australia v Qatar

Just what did we learn from that 3-0 trouncing? Not too much unfortunately as Qatar were that bad Malaysia would have given them a run for their money.

*For all the Dutch niceties, the high ball into the box is still an effective tool against most Asian teams.

*Score early and Middle East teams will stop diving.

*The European based players can put on a show for 60 minutes after travelling across the world with little rest and even less preparation time. Fatigue in the last 30 minutes is problematic-what if we do not score by then?

*Verbeek is good enough

*The Euroroos are committed enough

What we did not learn:

*The counter-factual: could a largely A-League squad have won that match? Probably playing a more orthodox style but not with a Dutch style.

*How we'd perform when fatigued if we had to.

*How we'd perform against an opposition that played well.

The match against China at altidute in March will be a killer-not a FIFA date so again the Euroroos will have minimal time to go and prepare-the A-League boys will be out of season. A win there will be a great result, but I'll take a draw right now!