The Socceroos have circled the wagons for a closed training session as they attempt to find a way to cause one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history first-up against three-time champions Germany.

Australia staged a closed session on Wednesday primarily to work on tactics and set-pieces - the latter likely to prove particularly vital as the Socceroos work with limited routes to goal.

With a neck injury cloud over Tim Cahill and match fitness a possible issue with Harry Kewell, fullback Luke Wilkshire's crosses and free-kicks loom as vital to unlocking a miserly German defence in Durban on Sunday (Monday AEST).

Socceroos hardman Vinnie Grella believes Australia's big-game hunters are primed to fire Australia to what would be a massive World Cup upset.

Grella says Cahill, Kewell and Mark Bresciano, who have all scored important goals in crucial Socceroos matches and excel in pressure games, will be the key to Australia's bid to get off to the best possible World Cup start.

"You need the special players in our team - and we have a couple of them in Bresciano, Cahill and Harry Kewell if he's fit - these types of players will make the difference," Grella said.

"Our job is to put them in the position to score goals. They'll be the key differences.

"We have some boys that have got some steel and we have some boys that have got class.

"If we make them hit together in the right spot on the pitch, we will put the Germans under a lot of pressure."

Meanwhile, Australian football supremo Frank Lowy insists Australia are well-placed in the contest to win the 2018 or 2022 World Cups as the two-day FIFA Congress opened ahead of the tournament.

Asian Football Confederation boss Mohamed bin Hammam has publicly said Asia will support Europe's bid for 2018 - effectively bowing to the inevitable that a European bidder will win that vote when it is held in Zurich in December.

It means non-European bidders, including Australia, are the front-runners to host the 2022 tournament.

Asked about the AFC's support for Europe in 2018, Lowy said: "Who cares? So he's not supporting us for 2018 but he's supporting us for 2022.

"This is the AFC's choice. We are bidding for both."

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