Coach Pim Verbeek and captain Harry Kewell both said after the 1-0 win that luck had played its part and the Socceroos did not play close to their best.

Schwarzer agreed but said that good sides always rely on a bit of good fortune.

"You earn your own luck, you work at it," he said. "Of course there's instances where you are on the wrong side of things.

"But recently we have been a little fortunate. All the best teams in the world have those sorts of runs, you earn and make their own luck."

Schwarzer produced yet another stellar performance for his country, producing several key saves, as Australia's defence struggled to contain the pacy Iraqis.

"We were exposed a bit more than we'd have liked. I think we made things difficult for ourselves. We could have made the game secure, but we didn't," he said.

"It doesn't always work the way you want it to work but you just get on with things.

"The main thing was we won the game, and in weeks to come, people will look back at this result and say we won 1-0, regardless of how the game went, we got three points."

The two teams face off again this Saturday in Dubai, a match which Schwarzer says can see Australia book its place in the second round of qualifying.

He added: "It will be a massive boost. What we can't underestimate is how hard that challenge is going to be. The conditions are extremely difficult and Iraq are a decent side.

"They showed they are a dangerous side, they can counter really well, they've got some very good ball-playing players and you can't underestimate them by any means.

"We've got to go there with the right mindset and if we get the result we need, it can almost be over with."