Socceroos defender Craig Moore admits his side's showdown with Croatia is the pivotal match in their World Cup group and believes there's a strong chance he'll be benched for Sunday's (0200 AEST Monday) game against Brazil.

Moore, Tim Cahill, John Aloisi and Vince Grella all picked up cautions in Australia's 3-1 win over Japan - giving coach Guus Hiddink some difficult choices to make.

A second yellow card in the group stage means an automatic one-match suspension, with any of the four unavailable for the Croatia match if they fall foul of the referee against the Brazilians.

But the Socceroos know their final group match against Croatia on June 22 is more likely to decide their overall World Cup fate, and even a narrow loss to Brazil would not ruin their hopes of qualifying for the second stage.

Moore believes Croatia is the Socceroos' Cup final, and appears to be expecting an unwelcome tap on the shoulder from Hiddink telling him to take a breather against Brazil to ensure he can play in the third group match.

"It has been something I've heard the manager mention a couple of times now - and it is a bit of a concern," he said.

"For me, that indicates he will tinker with the system. But I don't know anything for a fact right now.

"The Croatia game ... that's going to be our Cup final to progress. Who knows? Obviously I'd love to play against Brazil. But we'll see what the situation is."

Moore believes the Brazilians have plenty of improvement from their 1-0 victory over Croatia earlier this week.

"They did enough, didn't they? It's probably not the best they've ever played but they got three points, and they're always very strong in the group stages," Moore said.

Croatia plays Japan in the other Group F match on Sunday (KICK-OFF 2300 AEST) in Nuremberg, with the loser almost certain to bid an early exit from the tournament.

The town of Oehringen held an Australian festival in its town square to welcome Socceroos supporters to the pretty southern German town of 23,000 people.

Hundreds of locals and Socceroos supporters mingled throughout the day and evening - one of several functions planned by the local community to celebrate Australia using the region as its World Cup base.

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