Verbeek: I'm not concerned

Australia coach Pim Verbeek brushed aside suggestions that the 3-1 friendly defeat to the USA on Saturday would have a detrimental effect on their 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa chances. The Dutchman, who was Guus Hiddink's assistant during the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, saw his team fall to a first-half double from Edson Buddle and a late strike by Herculez Gomez.

Tim Cahill scored Australia's solitary goal in the first half as Verbeek's men struggled to deal with the pace of the American's attack, but the coach rejected the idea that his team's confidence will suffer as a result. "I'm not concerned," he said. "They didn't create that many chances in the first half and it was only when we were pushing forward that chances seemed to fall to them.