Nothing short of a place in the top eight will do.

If that seems a huge ask for the Socceroos at the 2010 World Cup, blame the 2006 squad for setting such a high benchmark.

Reaching the final 16 and then qualifying for back-to-back finals has sent expectations through the roof - not just among the fans but the players, too.

Everyone wearing a green and gold shirt in South Africa in June will regard failure to get out of the group stage as a bitter disappointment.

Defeat in the round of 16, shades of the Italian nightmare in 2006, is the new par.

A place in the quarter finals, no less, is the next glittering prize.

And beyond that, who knows?

Whether this is a realistic target is the big question.

On paper there is no reason why Lucas Neill's team can't match or even outdo the achievements of Mark Viduka's men in Germany.

After all, they are essentially the same men - minus Viduka himself.

They are four years older and four years wiser, but how many are also four years slower?

Coach Pim Verbeek could easily field a team featuring only two players under 30 - Jason Culina (29) and Luke Wilkshire (28) - alongside fellow 2006 veterans Mark Schwarzer (37), Craig Moore (34), Scott Chipperfield (34), Lucas Neill (32), Brett Emerton (31), Harry Kewell (31), Vince Grella (30), Mark Bresciano (30) and Tim Cahill (30).

The average age of that team would be 31 and a half.

In football terms, that's just about Dad's Army.

That's not the only downside.

On the emotional level, the strong showing in Germany four years ago means the Socceroos now carry a weight of expectation that did not exist before.

On the practical level, they're not a surprise packet any longer.

The whole world now knows what they are capable of.

No-one will be caught napping, and no-one will take them lightly.

They have a new coach, too, in Pim Verbeek, who has yet to prove whether he has the magic touch of Guus Hiddink, the grand master he studied under then replaced.

Verbeek gets results - that's what football is about, first and foremost, even for fans who want to be entertained into the bargain.

But does he have the perception and imagination of his predecessor, who brought Tim Cahill off the bench to score twice against Japan, and saw in big Josh Kennedy a potential game-breaker?

Hiddink made one almighty howler in Germany, taking leave of his senses to dump Schwarzer and stick Zeljko Kalac between the posts against Croatia.

It almost cost them a place in the final 16.

Apart from that, he was among the most astute managers of all.

He also worked his players into a lather, which made them one of the physically fittest sides in the entire tournament.

Can Verbeek do the same with Hiddink's now ageing band of warriors?

Will Verbeek even be able to get his best players on the field?

Grella has been injury-prone, Bresciano has been troubled by lingering back problems, and Kewell's groin injury means he has hardly kicked a ball in anger since January.

If Kewell can't make an impact, Australia's glaring problems in attack will be exacerbated.

The demise of Viduka has left a hole up front which the Socceroos have not been able to fill.

Kennedy has the height and heading ability, but needs someone to feed off him.

Will Scott McDonald, goal-less in 15 internationals, be risked? Or untested newcomer Nikita Rukavytsya?

The Socceroos have built their success around a solid defence which conceded just one goal, from a corner, in its final eight qualifying matches in Asia.

But take out Cahill, whose scoring record from midfield is simply astonishing, and where are the goals going to come from?

It's a worry.

Much has been spoken about how tough a group Australia has found itself in, pitted against Germany, Ghana and Serbia.

But it is no more difficult than the one it survived in 2006, against Brazil, Japan and Croatia.

Even a defeat in the opening match against Germany in Durban on June 13 need not mean early elimination.

They lost to Brazil last time and still got through.

Their second match, against Ghana in Rustenburg six days later, is the one they must win and can win, especially if Ghana is denied the talents of injured Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien.

The final group match, against Serbia in Nelspruit four days after that, should therefore be another Balkans shoot-out.

The Serbs had a miserable time in Germany, sent packing after three straight defeats.

But any team boasting Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic and Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in defence, and Inter Milan's Dejan Stankovic in midfield, is going to be a tough nut to crack.

If the Socceroos can't beat the likes of Serbia, they don't deserve a place in the final 16.

That's how tough the World Cup is, and should be.

If they make it through, they are likely to set up an encounter Australians have dreamed of since first entering the 1966 World Cup - against that year's winners, the mother country of old England.

If it happens, find somewhere with a strong roof to watch, because that promises to be the mother and father of all football matches.

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