Drawn in a tough group, hopes are not high for Australia at the World Cup but Ange Postecoglou is plotting an upset while blooding some A-League youngsters.
Here we get an expert view on Australia's chances this summer...
Gary White is the head coach and technical director of the Guam national team.
The Englishman served on the technical study group for the EAFF East Asian Cup in 2013 and will take up a similar role for next year's AFC Asian Cup in Australia.
Highly respected in Asia as a coach and tactical analyst, he has recently been linked with a number of managerial roles there and beyond.
White talked to
Sky Sports to give us the lowdown on Ange Postecoglou's team...
How are Australia's preparations looking?
It looks like it's a rebuilding phase for the Socceroos. They got rid of Holge Osieck after the two 6-0 defeats back-to-back against Brazil and France. That didn't help them. They've moved in a domestic coach in Ange Postecoglou who's had some good success in Australia.
He's the former Melbourne Victory coach and the former national coach of the youth team and he's highly regarded in Australia as one of their brighter coaches. He's 48 so he's not been around too long and he's basically been charged with rebuilding the squad.
I think their focus will be on the Asian Cup in 2015 on home soil rather than the World Cup but if you listen to him talk recently it's clear that he's singing the tune that they're not going there to be fodder. That sums up the Australian never-say-die attitude. They're going to go and try to impress and show they have a bright future so it'll be interesting to see what they do.
You were part of the technical study group at the East Asian Cup last year. Did they really struggle?
From the EAFF games I covered they were far behind all three of the other teams. Japan were miles ahead, South Korea were better and even China were stronger than they were. Australia were some way off the pack.
You could obviously blame the fact that they were out of season as the A-League wasn't in operation at the time, while the other countries were in the middle of the season so their players were fresher. That would obviously have an impact.
But when you look at Australia's style of play and how they were trying to play, it wasn't modern. If you watched Japan it was a modern, attacking system with one-touch passing. Australia looked a little bit lost. If they couldn't get it into midfield they'd just go very direct into the big guys and look to turn it into a physical battle.
Is that the style of play we can expect from them in Brazil?
I would think he'd go with a 4-2-3-1 but a completely different philosophy behind that 4-2-3-1 compared to, say, Japan. It will be very compact and looking to counter-attack through a lone striker.
An interesting fact for you is that 36 per cent of their goals during qualification came from headers so that will give you a good indication of their style of play. They're very direct with a high press to win the ball back.
They'll play with spirit and lots of pride but they've got a long way to go before they can think about being one of the top teams in Asia.
Who are the key players?
I think the problem is that Tim Cahill is still their star guy and he's going to be 34 in this tournament. Although he's still a good player and scoring goals for New York Red Bulls, you can't go into a World Cup with Tim Cahill as your top guy even if he has had a top career for many years.
There are a couple of good players. There's Mile Jedinak at Crystal Palace but he picked up an injury on the final weekend of the season so it's thought to be touch and go whether he'll be back to full fitness.
Are there any younger players to look out for?
He's left out Lucas Neill which was a big surprise in this part of the world here in Asia and that suggests he is going to go with the youth. There's Tom Rogic who was at Celtic but is now back on loan with Melbourne Victory. He's an attacking midfielder and a decent player.
There's also a young goalkeeper called Mathew Ryan with Club Brugge in Belgium and there's Tommy Oar, a young attacking midfielder from Utrecht. So there are a few players coming through but they're going to miss Robbie Kruse as he picked up an anterior cruciate ligament injury and they're definitely going to be relying heavily on Jedinak for his experience and leadership qualities.
Not too optimistic about their chances in a group against Spain, Holland and Chile then?
It will be interesting to see how Postecoglou looks to change it because it looks like his squad will be dominated by A-League players. His hand might have been forced with that draw as it might encourage him to plan for the future and get the young players some experience of top-end international football. So it'll be interesting.
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