“There's been too much expectation that we'd just walk through the tournament,” Petkovic told au.fourfourtwo.com today from Perth.

“There are a lot of good teams and Oman were as physically good as our boys.

“The players will be critical of themselves but they will get their fitness up and they will get better. The match was a rude awakening... a kick up the arse.

Petkovic, 34, who's made 16 appearances for the Socceroos the last being in 2002, is the brother of current Socceroo number three Michael Petkovic.

“You've got to remember, this is the first major tournament we've played in, in over 12 months since the World Cup.”

Needless to say, the Glory custodian was in awe of Mark Schwarzer's heroics against Oman, which he says was “the shining light” in an otherwise ordinary team performance. “If it wasn't for Mark, we'd be talking about a loss not a draw.”

Petkovic is expected to be fit for Perth "at some point around the start of this season's A-League" after a broken leg early last season almost put an end to his career.