Soccer: Australia upbeat despite loss to Brazil

Australia coach Guus Hiddink said the Socceroos were still on course to reach the second round of the World Cup for the first time despite their 2-0 loss to Brazil today.

Hiddink said his players were disappointed not to get anything out of the game despite dominating for large periods, but were confident they could avoid defeat in their final group F match with Croatia on Thursday and advance.

"We have a chance to qualify for the second round and that would be a tremendous achievement for Australia," the Dutchman said.

"Even after this loss, morale is very high and we still hope to go through. The players are eager and ambitious."

Australia are competing at the World Cup for the first time in 32 years.

They failed to score a goal at their previous appearance in 1974 but are currently second in the group standings after beating Japan 3-1 in their opening match.

"We have come a long way in a short time. I think these players have already achieved so much," Hiddink said.

"Of course, I'm not happy with the result but I think the way the team acted during the whole game, we can be proud of the way we performed.

"In the second half we had two or three opportunities but we failed to get the goal. We can be proud of the way we played. We made the world champions have to counter-attack."

The Australians were heavily penalised during the match and while Hiddink would not comment on the referee's performance, he did say luck had been against his side.

"There were some 50/50 decisions during the game that I didn't agree with and I had to cool down after the game. But they were not decisive," he said.

"Brazil were not able to dominate the way they like to do. They did not have the power to dominate us and they had to rely on counter-attack."

Australia captain Mark Viduka, who vented his frustration on several occasions, said he was also proud of the way his players had performed against the world champions.

"I thought we played well, on another day it could have been a different result," he said.

"We had a few chances we could have put away, but it was a great display by the boys. We gave them a good match."

- REUTERS