AAP
It's the home stretch in the race for Brazil - and time for the Socceroos to put the foot down.
With three of their final four World Cup qualifiers on home soil, starting against Oman on Tuesday night, the time is ripe for Holger Osieck's men to accelerate from the pack and cruise to Australia's third consecutive finals berth.
A five-month pit stop hopefully will prove enough to get the campaign back on track after the wheels nearly came off against Iraq last October.
Two late goals secured an unlikely come-from-behind victory, but even that has left the Socceroos a long way from the qualification finishing line.
With runaway group leaders Japan already scouting suitable bases in Brazil for 2014, only one point separates the other four nations vying for the second automatic spot.
That's why Mark Schwarzer, stand-in Australian captain for the suspended Lucas Neill, says anything less than a win against Oman would be a "disaster".
The 40-year-old goalkeeper knows it is time to start winning - and that means getting the ball past fellow English Premier League keeper Ali Al-Habsi, who curiously will also be wearing a captain's armband.
To that end, Australian game-changer Tim Cahill wants a "high tempo, high pressure" attacking performance that will crack the Omanis.
But playmaker Mark Bresciano believes throwing too many men forward too early could play into Oman's hands and give too much space on the counter-attack to fleet-footed striker Amad Al Hosni.
Such are the strategic considerations of international football; if it works, it was right.
Cahill believes Australia have players capable of prising open an obdurate Oman defence, such as Alex Brosque and Robbie Kruse, who have been in rich form for their clubs in UAE and Germany respectively.
Brosque, who is buzzing to play in front of his hometown crowd at Sydney's ANZ Stadium, believes an early goal could open up the game.
But Brett Holman, another potential match-winner, has had little game time since falling out of favour at Aston Villa and might not be risked.
It's in defence that Australia have their biggest gap to fill.
Neill has made the key central defensive position his own for a decade.
In his absence, it's anyone's guess what combination Osieck comes up with, but a host of players is in the mix, including A-Leaguers Michael Thwaite, Jade North and Mark Milligan, and international players Rhys Williams and Ryan McGowan.
Russian-based veteran Luke Wilkshire summed up the determination in the Australian camp when he said: "This is a chance for us to break away. It's a massive game. They're not used to playing in front of big crowds, in our country. It's an advantage, and we've got to make it count."
"In any competition, home games are the most important," added Bresciano.
"They are the games you have to win."
Coach Osieck agreed. "No ifs or buts," he said. "That's what we are here for, and that's what we will do."
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