SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Australia coach Graham Arnold will look to draw a line under the Socceroos' World Cup achievements when they face Bahrain in their final Asian Cup qualifier in Sydney on Wednesday.

With their place in next year's finals already assured, and after four veterans made their international farewells in the 1-1 draw with Paraguay in Brisbane on Saturday, interim coach Arnold will have both eyes set squarely on the future.

Central to Arnold's thoughts will be the frame of mind of defender Michael Beauchamp, 25, who had a disastrous impact against the South Americans at Suncorp Stadium.

The FC Nurnberg player came on as a late substitute to replace retiring stalwart Tony Popovic, who had scored the 88th-minute goal that had given Australia the advantage before an ecstatic crowd of almost 48,000.

But Beauchamp's contribution was equally telling as his stooping header beat his own keeper Mark Schwarzer to give Paraguay a share of the spoils and deflate the party atmosphere.

"I'm going to learn a lot about Michael Beauchamp on Wednesday night," Arnold said after Saturday's anticlimax.

"He is a player that we need to step up, he is a player that has the qualities, he's at a club in Germany because he's a good player. "The good thing about Wednesday is he'll have around him four World Cup players with a lot of experience in Vince Grella, Lucas Neill, Brett Emerton and Scott Chipperfield." Full focus

Tony Vidmar, Stan Lazaridis and goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac also played their final international, and while only Kalac and Popovic took part in the run to the second round in Germany, Arnold sees the Bahrain game as the start of a new era.

"Come the first training session, I'll be demanding full focus on the game," said Arnold, who replaced Guus Hiddink as coach after the World Cup but who is only in place for the remainder of Australia's qualifying campaign. "The players have created their own standards, so they've got to keep performing that way otherwise anything less will be a disappointment."

Schwarzer, left-back Chipperfield, Beauchamp and midfielder Mile Sterjovski are expected to come in for the departing quartet in the Group D encounter, with the team skippered for a second time by Blackburn's Neill.

Victory would ensure Australia topped the group and be seeded for next year's finals in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Defeat or a draw for Bahrain would mean they would have to beat Kuwait in Manama on Sunday to ensure their progress.