Australia captain Lucas Neill said losing to Germany was nothing to be ashamed of after Joachim Low's side put four goals past a ragged Socceroos team in Durban.
"I am still very proud," Neill said. "We took on one of the best teams in the world and lost. There is nothing to be ashamed of.
"We conceded on an early goal which we were disappointed with and made it an uphill battle. "The second goal was unlike us and then we went down to 10 men and against a team like Germany, who were already on the front foot, the game was a matter of pride and keeping the score to a minimum.
"Unfortunately, we conceded four but Germany was not the game that was going to decide the group."
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Neill was adamant Tim Cahill did not deserve to be sent off for his challenge on Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger.
"When you look at it on the TV, he has gone in to make the tackle, realized he is not going to get there, and pulled out," Neill said.
"He clips him with his knees and his heels tucked up in his bum and his arms in the air saying I dont want to touch him. I felt the game was going like that all game anyway.
"He is going to miss one at least game and you cant appeal the decision. If he misses two matches some people have to look at themselves."
Neill did not blame Pim Verbeek's tactical shake-up on the result, suggesting instead small errors led to goals.
"No one ever knows who is going to play and the managers there to pick the team," Neill said. "No one never really knew who is going to play because he was chopping and changing all the time in the past couple of weeks.
"It is not down to personnel today it is down to personal mistakes and collective mistakes.
"The next two games were always going to be the ones to win. We now need two wins. Simple. The maths is easy now."
Goalie, commentator slam loss
Former Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Bosnich slammed roles played by coach Pim Verbeek and skipper Lucas Neill in the humiliation by Germany.
Former Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea stopper Bosnich said the team went into the game with a negative mindset and Neill had contributed to that with pre-match comments talking up the Germans.
"This game was lost before a ball was kicked ... to go out before the game and make out your opposition is superior at a pretty big press conference is a self-fulfilling prophecy," Bosnich told Fox Sports outside the stadium.
"Tonight was an embarrassing defeat.
"I am not having a go at Lucas personally, and I count him as a friend, and I don't know if he was told to say it, but to come out to say a team is superior before playing against them gives away your psyche to the opposition."
Bosnich said the thousands of fans who had travelled to South Africa to support the Socceroos had been let down and they deserved answers about Verbeek's extraordinary match selections.
"We can't build up a wall here, questions need to be answered. Why was Richard Garcia played up front?" he asked.
"What happened with Harry Kewell and Mark Bresciano (who didn't play)? Why was Tim Cahill made to do a press conference in the week when he plainly didn't want to?
"These people have paid good money to come out here and they deserve a good performance against Ghana."
Former Socceroos striker and fellow Fox Sport commentator Robbie Slater was equally critical of Verbeek and labelled the performance "un-Australian".
"We played with six midfielders and no recognised striker, you at least have to go out and try and win the game and we never did that," Slater said.
"You don't mind losing if you give it a shot, but we never did.
"Verbeek has done a great job getting us here and the Asia Cup, but he has to take much of the blame responsibility for this result."
