AUSTRALIA has begun the toughest week of its World Cup campaign in steady fashion with a scoreless draw against Oman in Muscat.



The Socceroos absorbed periods of Omani pressure but created some good chances of their own in the searing 40-degree temperatures.



The fact that both sides kept a clean sheet was due to the excellence of the two goalkeepers, the Socceroos' Mark Schwarzer and Oman skipper Ali Al Habsi, with Al Habsi being the busier.



Australia now flies overnight to Brisbane to take on the rampaging Japanese, who destroyed Jordan 6-0 in their second match of the 2014 campaign. The Blue Samurai sit atop this group with six points from two games, so Australia is under pressure to get a result to stay in touch with the group leaders.



Socceroo boss Holger Osieck surprised pundits by starting with Harry Kewell and Alex Brosque up front.



Carl Valeri, was preferred as the holding midfielder to Mile Jedinak, while Jade North was an unexpected selection at right back.



The hosts had insisted, in the face of Australian protests, that this match kicked off at 5pm, when the broiling sun had taken ground temperatures above 40 degrees. It was easy to see why, as the Socceroos, intent on conserving energy, sat back and retained possession and tried to slow the game down, surrendering the early initiative to the hosts.



It was eight minutes before the Australians mounted an attack, while Oman's best opportunity came two minutes later when Emad Al Hassoni's header from a free kick was easily saved by Mark Schwarzer.



Having weathered the early storm, Australia began to exert itself with the excellent Mark Bresciano beginning to create openings for his team-mates.



Bresciano won the ball to create a chance for David Carney to launch a full-blooded drive from distance, which Oman keeper Ali Al Habsi tipped over the bar in the 20th minute. Ten minutes later, Valeri tested Al Habsi with another long range strike which the keeper turned over.



The temperatures dropped as the sun went down at the start of the second half and the energised hosts began at a furious tempo. It took a timely intervention from Lucas Neill to deny Al Ajmi straight after the restart, while an Al Hosni effort shortly after produced a corner.



Schwarzer, came to Australia's rescue in the 55th minute when he produced a wonderful diving save to palm Al Hosni's goalbound header to safety.



Australia got more into the game in the last 20 minutes, and Thompson was then denied from close range by another terrific Al Habsi save. His former Melbourne Victory team-mate Robbie Kruse then set Thompson up for another effort, but Al Habsi proved equal again.