Then the team were forced to cancel a training session at Tuodong Stadium because a police escort failed to arrive.

'I thought he was having a heart attack,' one Australian journalist said. 'I asked him a question and he seemed to go green, he then stooped forward and took hold of a chair. He looked like death.'

The press conference was abandoned and team doctors gave the Dutchman medicine to enable him to take a training session at the team hotel and attend an early evening press conference.

'I feel a lot better now,' said a tired and clearly irritated Verbeek.

'We decided to train at the hotel as it was a two-minute walk to another training pitch, which was better than a 50-minute drive through the traffic to the stadium. I don't know why the police escort was not provided,' he said.

The strain of playing at high altitude with a depleted first-choice team was starkly evident on the manager, who is expected to emulate or better the Socceroos' 2006 World Cup campaign in which they reached the second round in Germany.

Though every nation leverages any advantage it can on home soil, Verbeek has made it clear he is not happy with China's far-flung venue choice, which is 1,900m above sea level.

The stomach bug also struck down a member of Verbeek's backroom staff. 'We have not brought in special food. The hotel food is excellent and the players have no complaints. None of the squad has complained about altitude sickness,' Verbeek said.

The team have had only 48 hours to adjust to the thin air.

He added: 'The nature of the Australians is that if you give them a challenge they will rise to it. It makes them stronger.

'We have some injuries, but we have a strong squad. I'm looking forward to it,' said Verbeek, who is without star midfielder Tim Cahill, Mile Sterjovski, Brett Emerton and striker Joshua Kennedy.

China's Serbian coach Vladimir Petrovic, whose wholesale changes and poor performances have drawn anger from fans, denied the decision to play in Kunming was designed to hinder the Australians.

'We played here during the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, so it's not so unusual,' he said.

Asked if he might be contemplating his future at 4pm today if his side lose, Petrovic said: 'Every team manager is under pressure to do well. I am no different.'

China drew 1-1 with Iraq in their opening group A game in the neutral venue of Dubai, while Australia beat Qatar 3-0 in Melbourne.

Strict security is standard, but events in Tibet and other terrorist scares mean roads around the stadium, which seats 40,000, will be closed early today.

'Only 30,000 tickets are on sale for security reasons,' an official said yesterday.