Australia were punished early in the World Cup qualifier after Trent Sainsbury’s pass was intercepted inthe  midfield which ultimately resulted in Genki Haraguchi opening the scoring.

Juric made it clear the players were disappointed with the first half, but said he was relieved after being fouled in the box early in the second leaving Mile Jedinak to equalise from the spot.

“We weren’t doing our part in the midfield in that first half, we could’ve found the pockets a little bit better and it would’ve given us a lot of opportunity going forward,” Juric said.

“We improved that in the second half and it showed on the pitch we had control of the game. I think if we started like that in the first half and we found our stride early it could’ve been a different game.

“Our job was to not get involved too much and keep the back four as deep as possible to give the midfielders some space, they were really compact and made it really tough for us.

“After the first goal it was difficult for us to break them down, I think that’s what troubled us in the first half.”

Japan played a game allowing for Australia keeping most of the ball, but they struggled to break the opposition down with misplaced passes and crosses.

“We know they haven’t had a great run lately, but once they got that early goal we knew that’s exactly what they were going to do and you could see that in some stages of the game,” he said.

“They tried to bide themselves some time and frustrate us pulling the socks up and kicking the ball away etcetera. Like we said before at half-time, we needed to get control of the game and change in the second half.

“Second half we got into the front early, got back into the game quickly and from there it was a different ball game.”

Juric said he was content with the 1-1 draw but felt it would have been victory on another day.

“Imagine what it would be like if we played well,” he said.