The Dutch coach remained unconvinced of the Liverpool striker's fitness. Hidding took Kewell off the pitch 60 minutes into the friendly match against Liechtenstein yesterday.

"He's not in full shape but that's why these games are very important for him. He will be there against Japan if he makes progress in the next few days, whether it's from the start or coming in later," Hiddink said, hinting that he may leave Liverpool's international out of the starting line-up against Japan.

On the contrary, Kewell appeared confident about his performance. "I feel I could play 120 (instead of 60). But it's the manager's choice. We're working together and let's see where it takes me," he said at the press conference after the match.

Overally Hiddink was disappointed by the Socceroos performance in the 3-1 win against Liechtenstein yesterday, warning against a similar performance in Australia's opening match. The Socceroos had great difficulty to score against Liechtenstein and it took a big effort to score the two late goals.

"We played too slow. I didn't like the way we started the game... I cannot stand this lack of concentration. We must wake up. We cannot afford this in the first game. There is still lots to do still because we can't afford these errors," the Dutch manager said.

Australia played well during the friendly clash against Holland last week, keeping a 1-1 draw even though the Socceroos were one man down for the last half hour of the match.

Dynamo Dresden midfielder Joshua Kennedy climbed above two defenders to head a Brett Emerton cross into the net for Australia to take the lead in the 74th minute.

Another header gave Australia their final goal with Sterjovski providing the cross and Alaves striker John Aloisi heading into the corner for a win for the Socceroos.

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