Australia coach Holger Osieck was full of praise for his players after they demolished Uzbekistan 6-0 in the Asian Cup semi-final.

The Socceroos were irrepressible with a highly efficient performance in front of goal, surging into the tournament final, where they will meet Japan on Saturday (Sunday 2:00am AEDT).

Osieck seemed surprised after proceedings but said he was delighted to see all the things he had been working on with his players pay off.

"My team had a fantastic game tonight and I am really overwhelmed, all the things came together to make this happen here. I congratulate the boys, I have high respect (for them) and give them a lot of credit for their great performance," he told Fox Sports.

The German tactician protected some of his star players such as Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill by bringing them off during the second half and was expecting the majority of the playing group to be at full fitness for the final after some good recovery.

"Actually it was quite good because you see some of our boys are struggling," he added. "It was a very short rest in between (the quarter-final and this game) and some players need a bit more of a rest so I'm pretty happy for the next game we can have at least a day more and it looks pretty good."