Buckley says work is already underway to secure the locations for the final round of qualifiers and that the timing of the draw is a blessing for booking stadiums.

Coach Pim Verbeek was critical of the ANZ Stadium surface ahead of the recent China qualifier and urged the FFA to learn lessons from the situation.

Buckley is also keen to avoid a repeat of hiring a venue churned up by other football codes and he is optimistic of progress on that front.

Speaking exclusively to au.fourfourtwo.com he said: “In the end it (ANZ Stadium) was not a pitch that was acceptable to any of us.

“In fairness to the stadium we knew the schedule going into the game. As to the future we’ve already started discussions with the NRL, the ARU and the AFL about our schedule for the next 12 months.

“We’re hopeful we can avoid a repeat and I think we can.

“The World Cup qualifying phase we’ve just progressed from saw that draw made after the current season’s fixtures for the other football codes had already come out.

“That isn’t the case for this next set of qualifiers so now we can look to go in and secure a venue for a longer period of time in advance of our games.
“We’ve had a pretty positive response so far.”

Shortly after the draw for the final round of qualifying was made on Friday night Buckley pledged that the FFA ‘will leave no stone unturned’ to ensure that everything that can be done off the field to help the qualification push.

The venues for the Socceroos home games in the group has yet to be announced but Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will all be hoping for further hosting chances.

Australia's fixtures are as follows:
10 September 2008, Uzbekistan v Australia
15 October 2008, Australia v Qatar
19 November 2008, Bahrain v Australia
11 February 2009, Japan v Australia
1 April 2009, Australia v Uzbekistan
6 June 2009, Qatar v Australia
10 June 2009, Australia v Bahrain
17 June 2009, Australia v Japan.