A Mark Bresciano wonder goal has helped pilot Australia to a 2-0 victory over a vastly inexperienced Bahrain at Aussie Stadium.

The Socceroos claimed top spot in their Asian Cup qualifying group - and an all-important seeding for the tournament in South East Asia next July - after they outclassed the Gulf nation, which elected to pit its Olympic under-23 team against the might of Australia's World Cup heroes.

With injured star Harry Kewell part of the 36,606-strong crowd, John Aloisi and Bresciano secured victory with first half goals for the home side.

Bresciano, though, stole the show with his stunning mid-air strike after Aloisi had given the Socceroos a 1-0 lead with his 25th career international goal in the 18th minute.

The Palermo midfielder showed he was in the mood for a goal midway through the first half when he blazed away from the edge of the box.

Bresciano then delivered the goods with the most audacious of attempts in the 24th.

Scott Chipperfield lobbed a quality ball to the right edge of the box for a charging Mile Sterjovski, who in turn fired a superb half-volley across the box just in behind Bresciano.

The midfield maestro opted against the safe option of trying to control the ball and instead went for the spectacular - positioning himself nearly horizontal in cracking an amazing side-kick thunderbolt from eight metres which nearly burned a hole in the back of the net.

While not as important as his goal for Australia the last time he was in Sydney for the Socceroos' World Cup playoff against Uruguay, Bresciano's strike will no doubt be rolled out on many football highlight reels in years to come.

Sterjovski nearly added his own wonder goal to the party 15 minutes into the second half, but his scorching right-boot shot from the edge of the box was denied by the crossbar.

The Socceroos, though, for all their endeavour and dominance, found it tough going to break down a determined Bahrain defence.

They weren't helped by Bahrain's time-wasting tactics, which frustrated the Australians and seemed obvious to everyone at the ground except the referee, who bemused the Socceroos with his decisions.

Bahrain players fell to the turf in agony at regular intervals throughout the night, only to make a miraculous recovery after being carted off on stretcher.

Bresciano looked the most potent in attack for Australia, with Sterjovski not far behind.

Tim Cahill got himself in good positions several times, but spurned the few chances he had, most notably his 49th minute header which sailed over the bar.

Bahrain, needing only victory against Kuwait to seal qualification, chose to keep its top squad fresh for that clash next month and sent a youth side to play Australia - reducing the match into a virtual men-versus-boys contest.

After his horror night in Brisbane on Saturday, young defender Michael Beauchamp endured a nervy night in his fifth international.

In the first 10 minutes Beauchamp, who conceded an own-goal in the 1-1 draw with Paraguay at the weekend, was beaten one-on-one by speedy Bahrain midfielder Husain Al Shekar and then bobbled a pass to allow lone striker Ismaeel Hasan to break free and nearly embarrass the home side.

Defensive midfielder Vince Grella, for one, tried his best to nurse Beauchamp through the early stages, continually feeding the rookie centreback possession.

Beauchamp improved as the game went on, but was still far away from the best he showed in his Socceroos' debut against Bahrain in February.

The game was Australia's final qualifier for the Asian Cup with the Socceroos finishing with three wins and one loss - 2-0 against Kuwait 2-0 last month - to top the three-team pool.

Bresciano was named man of the match.

"I think every goal is a good goal," said Bresciano.

"Scoring a goal back in Australia gives me a better feeling (than scoring at club level).

"The boys have done what we had to do, we had to win and we won quite comfortably.

"No disrespect to our opponents, it was not high class opposition and sometimes in that situation our performance maybe goes down."

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold said securing victory was the major aim, but he lamented the scoreless second half and the continued delaying tactics by the opposition.

"We tried to keep a high tempo but every time we got started there was a foul given or one of their players would go down injured," said Arnold.

"Overall I think they (Socceroos) little bit had one eye looking forward to the game on the weekend with their clubs and making sure no injuries were taken."

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