Despite being held to a 2-2 draw by Thailand in Bangkok on Tuesday, Australia coach Ange Postecoglou is still confident that the Caltex Socceroos are on the right road to Russia and the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup.
Australia needed two Mile Jedinak penalties to cancel out Teerasil Dangda's brace in a hard-fought and entertaining clash at the Rajamangala Stadium.
Ange's men may have drawn the last three games in Group B to slip into third place and out of the top two spots that guarantee automatic progression.
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But Postecoglou is looking towards the second half of this stage of qualification.
“We are not satisfied as we we want to get maximum points from every game and we have not done that,” Postecoglou said.
“From our perspective, we have had three tough away trips.”
2017 should be a little easier on the AFC Asian Cup holders, in terms of travel if nothing else.
“Next year we will have three games at home as we also play Iraq in neutral territory.
"The back half of our program is still looking very good. We can finish strongly and that is what we will try and do.”
Australia's next game comes against on March 23 against Iraq away from home with the venue yet to be confirmed.
It is followed by home games against United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The final away trip is in Japan in August with the group ending with a home tie with Thailand in the following month.
“We have to reflect on the football tonight, which wasn't up to our usual standard and we will try to rectify that but overall, we are still quite comfortable.”