During the week the Australian coach defended the exclusion of Crystal Palace's Nick Carle from the latest Socceroos squad because the former A-League Player of the Year plays in the English Championship. However, it is often overlooked that Cahill - and team captain Lucas Neill - earned their stripes playing in the lower divisions of English football.

Cahill and Neill were teammates at Millwall for several years before graduating to the Premier League with Everton and Blackburn Rovers respectively.

But while Carle's favoured playmaker role is rarely employed in England's second tier, the environment provided an appropriate launch pad for Cahill's dynamic approach. It is a style that catapults Cahill to the pointy end of a crowded Socceroos midfield, where Verbeek is happy to have competition.

"In that position I have Tim Cahill and Brett Holman, as well as Jason Culina and also Bresciano, Kewell, and Scott McDonald," Verbeek said. "It is good for me but not so good for the players."

As Verbeek gears up for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier, last month's away win over Uzbekistan in Tashkent will count for little if Australia do not deliver in Brisbane this week against what should be a re-energised Qatar under new coach Bruno Metsu.

"Qatar has a better team at the moment than they did for the previous qualification round," Verbeek said. "That shows in their recent results. They are hoping to take at least one point from us this week."

Verbeek says the required logistics and local conditions for away games add weight to Australia's performance for home games during the final stage of World Cup qualifiers. Collecting points on the road is difficult, regardless of the opposition.

After beating Uzbekistan last month, Australia still face away expeditions to Qatar, Bahrain and Japan, with Verbeek believing all group rivals will present potential roadblocks on the way to South Africa.

"It's not that I say OK, it's Japan or Uzbekistan or Qatar," Verbeek says. "Every team is difficult. Playing in Asia is difficult.

"I think we have to play every game very hard to qualify for the World Cup. We want to win every game and qualify as soon as possible.

"But every away game is very difficult. You have to travel. There is the climate. There is the preparation.

"When we play the Japan game [next year] we have only one day of preparation.

"You never know how a player will get out of the aeroplane after 20 hours and the time difference and different climate.

"That is always a surprise."

But the good news for Socceroos fans is that, after only 10 months in the job, Verbeek claims his team is functioning how he wants it to.

"At that time I started the job, I knew the quality of my players and I also had an idea of their weaknesses," he said.

"Now I know my players very well, which makes my job much easier.

"Most important is that they know how I like to play.

"I think the communication and expectation from both parties is much better than it was at the beginning.

"They know what I want and I know what they can do. That's good for me.

"Life is good in Australia.

"It is a big challenge and I enjoy every minute of it."