The Young Socceroos topped Group D at the Asian U-19 Championship after a scoreless draw with Korea in Zibo, China, on Friday night.
Going into the match equal on points with their opponents, but holding a superior goal difference, the Australians knew that a draw or better would give them top position in the group.
With Rhyan Grant and Marc Warren unavailable through suspension, coach Jan Versleijen used the match as an opportunity to rotate his line-up giving Sam Gallagher, Jason Davidson, Eli Babalj, Tommy Oar, Dan Bowles, Steven Lustica and Dimitrios Petratos starting positions.
As predicted, the match involving two teams of similar strength was an arm-wrestle from the opening whistle.
Versleijen was content with the result and the depth of his squad.
“The first half we were under a lot of pressure and struggled to control the ball in the midfield,” he said in a statement released by FFA.
“The second half we started to take control of the midfield and when Matthew Fletcher came into the game he gave us more options in the front half.
“We have a very difficult quarter-final match coming on Monday against the United Arab Emirates.”
In the other group match in China, Iran defeated Yemen 2-0 to take third place in Group D.
Japan topped Group C with a 3-0 win over Jordan and the United Arab Emirates secured second position in the group after defeating Vietnam 4-0.
The top four teams qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup which will be played in Colombia next July-August.
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