Veteran Socceroo Tim Cahill provided the brace (13', 109') that won the match 2-1 for the Socceroos after Syria opened the scoring just six minutes in.

With the game barely into extra time the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Mahmoud Al Maowas received a second yellow.

Even so, the Aussies came within centimetres of disaster when an Omar Al Somar free kick hit the woodwork with only seconds on the clock.

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"I think the longer the game went on we got a good stranglehold", Milligan told Fox Sports post-match.

"They were outstanding, fought with everything and gave us a really tough match.

"We know what we’re capable of and that it was just a matter of time. They'd done a lot of kilometres and it was going to hurt them eventually."

Coach Ange Postecoglou created controversy pre-match when he benched English Premier League midfielder Aaron Mooy.

But the shake-up was shortlived after Brad Smith was subbed injured just 11 minutes into the game and Mooy brought on.

"We changed things up with our formation, we went a little bit more aggressive and everyone worked extremely hard," Milligan said. 

"Timmy was outstanding. That’s something we have in us – we work until we can't anymore."

The 32-year-old Melbourne Victory star was perhaps the most relieved man on the park when Cahill equalised, having coughed up the ball that led to Omar Al Soma's opener. 

"It happens, I didn’t mean to do it, I could have hit Tommy a bit harder," Milligan said.

"It was a loose pass and their quality up front punished us. But you have to get on with the job and I did."

Australia will now face CONCACAF's fourth-placed nation in a two-legged playoff in what will be the final obstacle on the road to Russia.

Milligan added: "I think the next round will be a different type of match, they're going to present different challenges."