Australia assistant coach René Meulensteen has said the extra two days rest his side will have before they meet Saudi Arabia or South Korea in the Asian Cup’s quarterfinals will provide a “massive” boost.

Australia continued its record of qualifying for at least the quarterfinals of every Asian Cup it has competed in on Sunday by defeating Indonesia 4-0, their largest knockout-stage win on this stage since they defeated Uzbekistan 6-0 in the 2011 semifinals.

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That triumph set up a date with either Saudi Arabia or South Korea in the quarterfinals on Friday evening, with those two sides set to meet at the Education City Stadium on Tuesday.

This means that Australia will be the beneficiaries of more than 48 hours extra rest than their opposition, something that Meulensteen, a former first-team coach for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, said was invaluable.

“It’s massive on the recovery side of things, not only physically but also mentally,” he said.

“If you win, and you win in the way that we did, that creates a lot of confidence. It creates a really good feel factor. But then the biggest thing is nothing is rushed.

“We’ve come up with this plan [for recovery] for the players on matchday plus one… and now we give them some really good time off for them to really relax and get away from it and get away from football. And then we start them up again after that day off.

“And for us as a staff as well, because of quick turnovers, we need to look at the next game.”

This added time to prepare, according to Meulensteen, comes at a point when his side are also beginning to see real carryover from their time at training into matches.

Mirroring the struggles of several heavyweights in Doha, Australia have battled to consistently create clear chances across their opening games, fashioning just a combined single shot on target from open play in group games against Syria and Uzbekistan.

But with four goals sourced against Indonesia via an own goal and Martin Boyle, Craig Goodwin, and Harry Souttar — two from open play and one from a set piece, traditionally a major strength — the assistant sees things beginning to click.

“We’ve spent a lot of time to make sure we move the ball well, in possession,” he said. “It’s all about turning possession into creating chances, that’s where you need certain patterns, certain cues for players to recognize — when to run in behind, etc.

“When you get into that final third, it’s all about, ‘okay, what are we looking for next?’ And that all depends a little bit on the qualities that you have, but also on what the opposition does.

“And a lot of times what we’ve identified and analyzed in the opposition is that a lot of times you see the edge of the box is free or the back post is free.

“And the last [goal], set pieces is such an important element and we’ve got so much strength in the squad… and the key there is to make sure that people understand their job.

“The delivery from from Craig Goodwin, which is one of his his best qualities, was outstanding.

“That’s the reason why you practice. We paint pictures for the players. If we do this, and we do that, if we get in those areas, then we’ve got the biggest chance of getting a chance and scoring goals and that’s so satisfying to see for the players when it eventually comes off.”

Regardless of whether it is the Saudis or Koreans, Australia will likely enter the quarterfinals as underdogs and will probably do so eagerly, given the success they have gleaned from a backs-against-the-wall approach in the past.

Led by Roberto Mancini and Jürgen Klinsmann, respectively, Saudi and South Korea are widely regarded as being amongst Asia’s best, but Meulensteen is embracing the challenge.

“It is perfect for us because we rise to those challenges and we’ve done that over the last 14 months,” he explained.

“What we’ve become experts in, we’ve become experts in playing in away stadiums, in front of away crowds. So that doesn’t faze us, we rise to the challenge.

“If you want to win things… you have to beat the best.

“The players will have drawn a lot of confidence over the last 14 months… we played France, Tunisia, Denmark, Argentina, Ecuador, England, Mexico and now Saudi and Korea fall in that bracket. We’ve got good experience now.

“I think the perception of Australia for [Saudi and Korea] has changed a little bit. I think they will look at us slightly differently and we need to also draw confidence from that.”