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Australia's press on has lauded the national football team's early qualification for next year's World Cup finals ahead of their game today against Bahrain.
The Socceroos' advance into their second successive finals may not have been as adrenaline-charged as their penalty shootout victory over Uruguay that took them to Germany in 2006, but the end result - a goalless stalemate against Qatar - was the same.
"It wasn't pretty at times, but who cares? The objective was to reach South Africa 2010 and prove that the 2006 qualification was no fluke," said The Sunday Telegraph after the team qualified unbeaten and with two games left.
The Socceroos have two home qualifiers remaining, against Bahrain in Sydney today and Japan, who are also undefeated and through to the finals, in Melbourne on June 17.
Bahrain hope to dampen the Aussie celebrations as a point, or win, will help the kingdom secure a play-off place and the chance of a backdoor entry to the finals in South Africa.
Australia narrowly beat Bahrain in their first encounter with a last-gasp winner.
