A Brett Emerton double plus goals from Tim Cahill and Josh Kennedy saw Australia clinch their second win in two games to top Group One of the final phase on the road to South Africa.

The kick-off, however, was delayed for half-an-hour due to a torrential thunderstorm and Verbeek believes the treacherous surface immediately put the hosts at a significant advantage, although he was grateful he could rely on the senior members of his squad to help them deal with the unexpected hold-up.

"I think the pitch helped us, there's no doubt about that. We can play football on a field like this, we can play very good football on a field like this, while Qatar were struggling," he said.

"If was a difficult start. We warmed up, came inside and had to wait, nobody knew what was going to happen.

"But the more experienced guys - (Mark) Schwarzer, (Lucas) Neill and (Craig) Moore - they did very well in the locker room to keep the boys awake and let them start as aggressive as possible."

It was an impressive performance from Australia as they outclassed their Middle Eastern rivals and Verbeek was understandably delighted.

"The goals I think were fantastic, the way we played, we controlled the game completely," he added.

"I think we're very happy - two games, six points, five goals scored, zero goals against, it's not too bad."

Australia had raced into a two-goal lead after 17 minutes and Qatar coach Bruno Metsu conceded that effectively killed his side's chances.

"When you concede two goals in the first-half it's more difficult. At 1-0 maybe you can come back, 1-0 it's possible, but at 2-0 the game is finished," said the Frenchman.

"At half-time we wanted to try something (different), we wanted to attack more, but it's difficult.

"We played against a very good team. Australia are a good team, they have good players, they were at a fantastic level. Today was very difficult for us.

"When you play against a strong team, it's difficult, because you make one mistake and one mistake kills you.

"Today (after our) first mistake they scored, so you need to give yourselves a chance."