SYDNEY—Harry Kewell says Australia's performance against the Netherlands shows just how much work the Socceroos have left to do before next year's World Cup.
Australia took plenty of positives from Saturday's scoreless draw at the Sydney Football Stadium, which preserved their undefeated record against the Dutch in three matches.
But the fact they were largely outplayed by one of the world's best sides, and barely created any chances, showed they need to find a way to take their game to the next level to be competitive in South Africa.
"We played a world-class team and I think it showed," Kewell said.
"We worked hard and that's all we could really do.
"They're third in the world and that showed and now we can really put our heads down and realise that its not going to be easy and playing teams like this are the teams you need to play in a World Cup.
"It showed there that we're not ready yet."
The Galatasaray star said he thought Australia were still capable of plenty of improvement and was particularly proud of how the side defended against the Oranje.
Remarkably, it was the first time in 26 matches the Netherlands had been kept scoreless.
"We're not far away. We held the third-best team in the world to a nil-all draw and I thought right at the end there, we could have snatched it," Kewell said.
"When you look at their performance, I thought they had two chances in the first half but other than that they didn't really create much.
"So if you look at that as a performance in itself we held them out quite well, but maybe just up front we need a little bit more.
"We can only take experience from that.
"I don't know what they're thinking at the moment. I mean, they must think what do they have to do to beat us?"
Another positive to come out of the match was the return of Brett Emerton, who came on at halftime and impressed in his first international appearance in a year after a long-term knee injury.
"It's been a very long time coming. It's felt like forever," Emerton said after a light recovery training session on Sunday.
"But I love coming in and playing for my country and just being in this environment with the boys so it's good to be back.
"Of course at times it's been tough, but I've had really good people around me supporting me and encouraging me."
Emerton now looks a strong chance to start in Wednesday's Asian Cup qualifier against Oman, in which Australia badly need a win to get their campaign back on track.
Vince Grella, however, is unlikely to recover in time, after hurting his thigh just 15 minutes into Saturday's match.
His likely replacement Carl Valeri is also carrying an injury and sat out Sunday morning's recovery session for some extra treatment, but should be fit to take his place alongside Jason Culina in a defensive midfield role.
