Viduka headed home two late goals to help Australia to a 4-0 victory over Thailand in their must-win Group B outing which secured a place in the last eight, but the Newcastle frontman lasted for just over an hour at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.

Viduka's replacement Harry Kewell set-up John Aloisi for Australia's opener, but after Naohiro Takahara hit back for Japan and Socceroos midfielder Vincenzo Grella was sent-off, Ivica Osim's side stayed on course for a third straight AFC Asian Cup title with a 4-3 shootout victory inspired by two saves from veteran goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.

"The boys showed a lot of character to get through 90 minutes, with a man less in these sorts of conditions I thought we played exceptionally well," said Viduka, who refused to comment on his international future after initially announcing his retirement prior to Graham Arnold announcing his squad.

"We are disappointed not to have won the game and I think everyone showed a lot of character to get to the penalty shootout being a man down. Penalty shoot-outs can go either way and this time it went against us.

"I thought it was a good performance and it would have been great if we had won the game, but considering all the circumstances everybody is proud.

"If Australia is going to be one of the forces in Asia these are the conditions we are going to have to deal with."

Kawaguchi meanwhile admitted he didn't want to let his teammates down as he proved to be the hero as he helped the defending champions move one-step closer to their third-straight title win.

"I just didn't want to waste all my teammates' hard work they had done up until then," he said.

"Everybody had great concentration throughout the game. I wanted to respond to that by any means.

"You need luck in the penalties but it is also the goalkeeper's responsibility."

Kawaguchi had a similar experience in the 2004 tournament in China. He stopped two penalties in Japan's 4-3 shootout win over Jordan after a 1-1 extra-time battle on their way to retain the Asian title.

"In the shootout, the more important thing is the atmosphere than the opponents. I managed to deal with that well and stopped the shots," said Kawaguchi.

"Australia have many players who play in the English Premier League and their goalkeeper is wonderful.

"But I strongly felt that we didn't want to lose in the shootout although we were even during the game."