“I think Brett played a superb game the other night and I think he led from the front," said Kewell. "I think it was important for him to have a good game.”

Holman's role in the hole behind Kewell helped the Socceroos' cut the Qatar defence to ribbbons, particularly in the first half.

It was good lead up work from Holman that helped the Socceroos take a 1-0 lead in Doha and he maintained his good link up play with his skipper and Mark Bresciano throughout the night.

Meanwhile, Kewell has again declared himself ready for 90 minutes, this time against China on Sunday, to finish the Socceroos' qualifying in style.

“I felt great in the first match when we played Iraq, and obviously over in Dubai was a lot different and the heat was very difficult but we did our best to overcome that.

“And against Qatar I knew I could've easily lasted the full 90 minutes,” said Kewell, who was substituted late in the 3-1 victory in Doha.

“And I'm looking forward to playing the full 90 on Sunday.”

“It's just nice to be playing football again,” the 29-year-old added.

“Once you've been starved of something you love, your passion really drives you on. I'm just going out there and enjoying myself.”

Quizzed on whether he felt the job was done Kewell said “partly”.

“Our main goal was to get through to the next phase. We've achieved that but there's a very important game on Sunday that we want to win. And then we'll look forward to the next round.”

A jet-lagged Kewell arrived at Sydney airport at 9am this morning with the rest of the returning Socceroos.

The players will have till Thursday off before regrouping for the final group qualifier against the already eliminated China on Sunday at Sydney's ANZ Stadium.

The Socceroo captain described the feeling after the Qatar fixture on Saturday night as a “relief”.

He added: “Everyone expects us to go straight through to the World Cup but they don't know how difficult it is.”