“I don't worry about things I can't change,” Verbeek said today. “We have these facts. I've had that problem once when I was with South Korea.

“It's not easy, but it shows that they afraid of us, and that's good also.”

China host the Socceroos on March 26 in Kumming near the Tibetan border in the Socceroos' second World Cup qualifier.

Verbeek added that the players' fitness wasn't a problem. “If they aren't fit by this stage... I don't have any worries on that.”