Schwarzer, who was named Australian footballer of the season here on Wednesday, has gone 630 minutes without conceding a goal throughout the seven qualifiers in Asia’s Group A.

The Aussies are favourites to claim the group as they lead Japan by two points and need only a draw. Both nations have already qualified for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.

The last time the 36-year-old Fulham shot-stopper picked the ball up from the back of his net while playing for his country was in injury-time of the 3-1 defeat of Qatar in Doha on June 14 last year.

Schwarzer was not between the posts when Australia lost 1-0 to China in a World Cup qualifier in Sydney last June and to Kuwait (1-0) in an Asian Cup qualifier in Canberra last March.

The longest-serving Australian international of all time, with 66 appearances spread over almost 16 years, he said there was great pride in not conceding a goal for almost 11 hours of football.

"It’s a sense of amazing self-pride amongst all the boys that we can go into crucial games, World Cup qualifiers, and not concede goals. That’s an unbelievable foundation to have," Schwarzer said Friday.

"It’s unbelievable to think you’ve got to the final stage of qualification for a World Cup and seven games into it we haven’t conceded a goal."

While Schwarzer’s feat is an Australian record, it is still some way short of the international record held by the great Italian Dino Zoff.

Zoff went 12 consecutive internationals and 1,143 minutes before he conceded a goal from September 1972 until Italy’s 3-1 win over Haiti in their opening match of the 1974 World Cup in Germany on June 15.

"I knew that we had got the Australian record, and as far as we are concerned we want to continue that run regardless," Schwarzer said.

His hopes of extending his number of clean sheets against Japan in Melbourne next Wednesday will be aided by the return from suspension of skipper and central defender Lucas Neill.