They overcame injuries to key players, a lack of preparation, altitude and some disgraceful refereeing decisions to secure the valuable point from their World Cup qualifier.

The Socceroos remain top of their group with four points thanks to Mark Schwarzer's great penalty save in the 89th minute from a dubious penalty awarded after the Middlesbrough veteran questionably brought down Shao Jiati.

Defeat would have been harsh on the Socceroos as they were the better side despite the game being played at 1900 metres above sea-level and the team going in without Josh Kennedy, Harry Kewell, Scott McDonald, Tim Cahill, Brett Emerton, Mark Viduka and John Aloisi and then losing their only striker Archie Thompson to a foot injury after only nine minutes.

Verbeek was proud of the way his team played after the bulk of them only arrived in China on Monday, following the weekend's matches in Europe.

"We played very good considering we only had two days preparation and the Chinese team had two and a half months preparation," Verbeek told Fox Sports after the game.

"And especially with Archie going down after only five minutes because he was our only striker so I am very proud of the boys."

Verbeek said a draw was a fair result on the balance of play.

"We always like to win games but if you look at the whole game a draw was the best result for both teams," he said.

Verbeek described the 89th minute decision to award China a spot kick as 'a yes or no penalty' but praised Schwarzer for yet another crucial save for his country.

"It was a very good save," he said.

"Then we had an open chance in the last minute so it was an exciting finish but after the game I can say now that I was pleased with a point."