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The squad returned on Saturday in buoyant mood after their historic 4-1 win last week against China in game two of the group stage of their AFC World Cup qualifiers in Dubai.

However, after losing 3-1 to Iran in their opening match Australia was defeated 4-2 by Oman in their final group clash, losses which bundled them out of the race to qualify for the World Cup.

Aussie player Ivo De Jesus said the exit was disappointing given the side was just beginning to gel on the big stage.

"If we had started the tournament now with these games under our belt, we'd probably had another outcome, learnt from it and probably qualified," the former Canberra Cosmos NSL star told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"I don't think we're that far away from some of the teams that qualified. Hopefully we can build on this."

The point about preparation was echoed by Aussie coach Ayrton Andrioli.

"When you look at the limited amount of preparation and experience we had with the team, we definitely performed way beyond most people's expectations," he said.

"They did Australia proud and made a lot of people sit up and take notice of us."

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 got underway in Dubai on Monday and involves 16 nations including United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Uruguay, Solomon Islands, Spain, Côte d'Ivoire, El Salvador, Russia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Nigeria and Switzerland.

Australia's AFC qualifiers were played in Dubai in the lead up to the tournament as a result of Japan pulling out of hosting the AFC qualifiers.

De Jesus says Australia suffers from a chronic shortage of games both domestically and in international beach football tournaments.

And De Jesus said a beach football tournament in Australia was something that he'd like to see be addressed by FFA.

"We have the climate to be successful in beach football," he said. "It's one of those sports in which we can close the gap on the world pretty quickly.

"Our biggest concern as a team is that we walk away from this tournament and we don't play again for several years and we're back to square one.

"Even if it's just one or two tournaments a year, we can really start making World Cups on a regular basis."

Many nations, such as Spain, Portugal and Japan, take beach football seriously and have full-time players. Australia, despite having some of the best beaches in the world have been slow to catch on to this highly technical form of the game.

"The last thing you want to do is be left behind and in ten years play catch up," warned De Jesus who believes it's probably the hardest form of the game.

"And I've played Futsal. If you're not technically good in beach football, you're not going to survive. It's a game that relies on technique. It's not easy."

A good place to start, he said, was A-League clubs lending their brand name rather than players to help launch a domestic beach football tournament.

"You'd have a supporter base there already," he said. "Imagine if Sydney FC were playing Central Coast Mariners at Bondi in summer? One week a year for a tournament would be a good start."

But De Jesus says A-League footballers would not have the time to train for the beach form of the game, and it would be too difficult a transition from the grass version.

Beyond just  a Beach A-League competition, De Jeus believes we should be able to host a Beach Football World Cup at venues like Surfers Paradise or Bondi Beach.

He added: "Bondi Beach as a venue for a tournament was mentioned by the team while in Dubai.

"It has to happen sooner or later. It's one of the world's most famous beaches. Rio de Janeiro has held the beach football World Cup for many years and they get great crowds.

"It should be something in FFA's plans although I guess they have more important things to consider such as World Cup hosting.

"Beach football is all about entertainment. I liken it to football's version of Twenty/20 cricket. The game's all about excitement."

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