A defiant Ange Postecoglou has taken out his frustrations on the Honduras media in the aftermath of Australia's 0-0 draw with the Central American side.
The result has the Socceroos neatly positioned to progress to the World Cup with a win in Wednesday's home tie where they'll start favourites.
Postecoglou's side sparkled in San Pedro Sula, creating several gilt-edged chances without converting any for a precious away goal.
The performance came in stark contrast to the disjointed efforts in last month's Asian playoff with Syria, which Australia ended 3-2 on aggregate after extra time in the home tie.
Postecoglou credited his team with overcoming tough Honduran conditions, but let loose when asked if he was expecting the home side "to be so easy."
"Maybe you thought we were going to be easy," he said.
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"I saw the newspaper today, it had 11 kangaroos out there but kangaroos can play football, huh?"
The Central Americans painted the tie as "Operation Cangeru" and labelled Australia a simple team, while Australian media highlighted the safety concerns in the host country.
Postecoglou acknowledged the wrongs but defended his team.
"When we got here, some people made some comments about the country and Honduras and that was wrong and we apologise for that," he said.
"I also think there were some comments about our team coming from the other side that were disrespectful.
"We had two players that play in the Premier League out there. They play in first divisions in Europe and all I heard is we have a simple game plan and we don't have any stars.
"That was our motivation. We do our talking when the game starts.
"We're expecting a tough game in the second game. We always respect our opponents. And we'll be ready."