Australia have named 14 players from the last World Cup in an experienced but ageing squad for South Africa 2010 and are rated an outside chance of getting through Group D.

The Lucas Neill-led Socceroos face the opening obstacle of three-time champions Germany in Durban before a more odds-friendly contest with Ghana in Rustenburg and a potential all-or-nothing showdown with Serbia in Nelspruit.

The Australians, under conservative Dutch coach Pim Verbeek, qualified top of their Asian group, five points ahead of Japan, and are the top-rated regional team at 20 on the FIFA world rankings.

Under another Dutchman Guus Hiddink, they surprised by reaching the second round at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, coming from behind to beat Japan and drawing with Croatia in their group.

It took a disputed last-minute penalty by eventual champions Italy to knock them out of the tournament after they were moments away from forcing extra-time against the 10-man Azzurri.

To reach Germany, Australia had to beat South Americans Uruguay on penalties after strolling through Oceania qualifying.

Now Australia are officially part of the Asian Football Confederation, they have been steeled under Verbeek through 14 regional qualifiers, losing just twice and conceding only four goals.

The team to face Germany on June 13 will probably be the same line-up, minus retired Mark Viduka, that downed Japan 3-1 in Kaiserslautern four years ago.

Nine of those players are aged 30 or more with a total of 484 international caps, so match-hardened experience will be one of the strengths of the Australians this time round.

They will be relying on the influential spine of their team, from Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, through to Galatasaray central defender Lucas Neill, Everton midfielder Tim Cahill and Galatasaray attacker Harry Kewell.

There have been suggestions that the injury-prone Kewell may shift from the the left to play as the lone striker, instead of the towering Nagoya Grampus-based Josh Kennedy, but he has only played two minutes for his Turkish club this year and his match stamina may be lacking.

While the Socceroos are tight at the back and function well as a defensive unit headed by the outstanding shot-stopper Schwarzer, just who will score the goals to get them through to the knockout stage is the big question.

Cahill is coming off an outstanding English Premier League season and is one of the game's leading headers, but the way the Socceroos are set up in a 4-5-1 formation, only 19 goals came in 14 Asian qualifiers with 10 of them in three games against Qatar.

Cahill has proven to be a lucky charm for his team and they haven't lost in 13 of his 37 internationals when he has scored.

The Socceroos, under Verbeek, have proved a resilient outfit, losing only four times in 27 internationals since 2008, and with the significant scalps of the Netherlands, Ghana and the Republic of Ireland.

If Verbeek can get his first-choice 11 players on the field in South Africa and keep them there during the group stage they are experienced and cohesive enough to cause problems to their opposition.

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