In a newly-released diary of the Socceroos' first World Cup campaign in 32 years, the Middlesbrough keeper revealed his disappointment at being dumped from the make-or-break pool game against Croatia in favour of longtime rival Zeljko Kalac.

A jittery Kalac almost cost Australia their place in the last 16 with a horrendous fumble that gifted the Croatians a 2-1 lead with 30 minutes left, only for Harry Kewell to keep the Socceroos in the tournament with a 79th-minute equaliser.

Dutchman Hiddink took on hero status in Australia for plotting the Socceroos' path to the second round, where they went out on a disputed last-minute penalty to eventual champions Italy.

But Schwarzer, although expressing his great respect for Hiddink, said he could have handled the Australian goalkeeping situation "a whole lot better."

The battle for first-choice between Schwarzer and Kalac, fired up by Hiddink's cat-and-mouse selection approach, was the biggest talking point within the Australian team before and during the World Cup finals.

Hiddink, now the Russian national coach, kept Schwarzer and Kalac on tenterhooks before each match at the finals, and Schwarzer admitted the situation almost left him an emotional mess.

"There were times when I found it hard to cope with," Schwarzer said in "World Cup Destiny."

"I'd ask myself what had I done wrong and whether I was reading too much into certain situations, especially at training. It was uneasy because you were always looking over your shoulder."

Schwarzer's main concerns centred on Hiddink leaving both goalkeepers guessing until hours before a match about who would be selected.

"I know I didn't see everything from Guus's perspective but I cannot deny that he is a great coach," Schwarzer said.

"I have a great respect for him. Just look at the Socceroos' record and what we achieved at the finals.

"However, he surprised me with how he approached the goalkeeping situation. I think that, in some respects, he showed a lack of man-management skills and a lack of appreciation of what players need in terms of getting ready mentally and emotionally for a big match.

"I could never understand why he would name the team just hours before kick-off. I always believed that finding out your selection status at such short notice was far from ideal. My best performance at the finals came after he gave me 24 hours' notice about starting.

"To be fair, the situation not only hurt me, but it hurt Spider (Kalac) as well. I don't think it did us any favours at all."

Schwarzer recalls thinking during the Croatia match that Kalac was lacking match practice.

"I was doing my best to look at the match with a totally neutral perspective," Schwarzer wrote. "But it looked to me as though Spider was short of match practice. His timing and possibly his confidence were down.

"I actually felt for Spider after his mistake," he said. "Everybody makes mistakes and while this was a crucial one I couldn't blame him for wanting to play.

"However, the fact is he played very few games for his club (Inter Milan) last season and while we like to believe training can replicate match conditions, we know nothing can replace match practice."

Schwarzer is expected to be in goal when Australia take on Paraguay in Brisbane on Saturday.