Australia made a poor debut to their Asian Cup campaign, bagging one point from their first two games, and they were largely criticized for being bottom of Group A.

"I think a lot of you will be eating your words. It is a reward to us," Cahill told reporters.

"It is just difficult for the players to hear that things were going on. We have come together tonight, unified, and got a result."

Media speculation accused the Australian players of being uncommitted after their embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Iraq, hinting to a rift inside the Socceroos' camp.

"It has made us stronger inside the camp. Now they will be able to concentrate on the football and not things going on elsewhere," added the Everton midfielder.

Moreover, the competition's top scorer Mark Viduka, who scored a brace against Thailand, also lashed critics and was happy with the Socceroos reply.

"We've copped a lot of crap off everybody and I'm happy with the response," the Australia captain Viduka said.

"We were all obviously disappointed with our performances but I think we should be criticized for the way we performed.

"I think some people criticized other things apart from our performances, which is disappointing."

Australia are off to a crunch quarter-finals clash though when they face tournament's favorites Japan on Saturday.