PERTH, Australia -- Socceroos head coach Tony Popovic has praised his squad for their backs-to-the-wall performance in last night's 1-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying upset win over Japan, with the result all but sealing Australia's place at the tournament.
The Socceroos entered the clash knowing that a first win in 11 matches against Japan -- a drought stretching back to 2009 -- would, barring a heavy loss to Saudi Arabia in Jeddah next week, be enough to secure the second automatic qualifying spot in Group C.
Aziz Behich's stunning 90th-minute winner -- one of Australia's few chances -- was met by disbelief by the Perth crowd after an already-qualified, inexperienced Japan side had dominated the Socceroos from start to finish.
Popovic, who admitted his side were under pressure for large periods, described the win as "special."
"You're playing the best team in Asia at the moment, and when you win it so late, you can't script it better," he said.
"For Australian football, we take a major step towards achieving our goal. We've almost done it, and we've beaten a fantastic nation.
"It was just good reward for the group. We were tough. We kept a clean sheet, and we've done something that many Australian sides have found hard to do."
Despite the result, Popovic -- who has consistently spoken of the need for progression since taking over from Graham Arnold as head coach last September -- said the game highlighted there was still significant room for improvement.
"I thought the biggest problem around the first half was nothing to do with the ball," Popovic said.
"We didn't win a challenge; we didn't win a second ball. They were a lot tougher than us in the first half. And when you can keep winning the ball, you can keep your momentum going forward. And we didn't have a chance to retain the ball.
"When we went into our duels, we were pretty much second-best in every challenge... We know there's room to grow and room to improve."
Socceroos winger Daniel Arzani said the nature of the victory made the night even more memorable.
"I'm ecstatic -- it's a massive, massive win for us. The way we won it as well just made it so much sweeter," he said.
"Just because of how hard-fought it was to keep a clean sheet up until that point. And we kind of set the stage for ourselves. We fought so hard to make sure that we were in the game.
"And we put ourselves in a position where one goal was the difference, and at the end, it was just a moment of quality from Riley and from Aziz that made the difference in the game. That's football."