The Socceroos, missing most of their frontline stars, lost 1-0 to a full-strength Chinese line-up before a crowd of more than 70,000 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium.

A 12th minute goal to Sun Xiang settled the issue, with China missing a re-taken penalty in the 76th minute.

The result was largely meaningless as Australia had already booked its passage to the next phase of qualifiers, while China was already out of contention.

But despite a nervous and stilted showing from his second-string team, Verbeek was upbeat as he looked ahead to the final stage of qualifying in September.

"It was for us a good experience but I cannot be happy about the result," he said.

"The players are still young and talented and have to improve.

"They will get a lot of experience in the Olympics and we will find out if they are good enough to be part of the next qualification (phase).

"We are prepared. If you want to go to the World Cup you have to be the best two in the group (in the next stage of qualifying) and that's the plan."

Asked if had any preferences ahead of the draw for the final round of qualifiers on Friday, Verbeek replied: "No, I think it will be difficult anyway. They all did well during the qualification rounds.

"Whatever team you get, the away game is always difficult.

"If it's Uzbekistan or (United Arab) Emirates or Qatar or Iraq or Japan - whatever it is it will not be easy - but that is okay.

"Whatever we get we know we have to win the home games - that's the most important.

"Away we are going to pick up some points and then we qualify."

Verbeek was unperturbed about the hiccup against China - Australia's first home defeat in a World Cup qualifier in 27 years.

"They (China) played better than the away game (against Australia). You can see what happens when you go out there with no pressure," he said.

"They tried to get the rhythm out of (our) team by faking injuries but they did well.

"They were always dangerous on the counter."

Skipper Harry Kewell conceded: "A lot of people are probably going to talk negative things about this.

"But we worked hard and created chances. China were strong at the back and didn't give away many chances.

"When we did get a half-chance we had a shot and didn't hit the target.

"We're disappointed with the loss but on the positive side we knew we had qualified and we'll look forward to the next stage."