Harry Kewell and Craig Moore might already have played the final World Cup match of their lives.

Both will miss Australia's last group encounter against Serbia in Nelspruit on Wednesday, Kewell because of a controversial red card for a handball and Moore for picking up a second booking.

Which means that if the Socceroos fail to advance - and the odds are heavily against them - the party is over for two stalwarts of Australia's golden generation.

Between them they have racked up 97 caps, one leading the attack, the other a linchpin in defence for the past decade.

Moore, 34, has always said this was going to be his final fling, meaning his career may already be over.

Kewell, 31, has not made his intentions clear, but his injury-littered CV almost certainly means he doesn't have another World Cup in him even if he continues in club football with Turkey's Galatasaray.

Kewell is hoping against hope the cards fall kindly for him and Australia in Wednesday's final two group matches.

If they don't, his last World Cup will have come and gone in 25 minutes and ended in the abject misery of an unintentional handball on the line, a penalty and an instant dismissal.

"I don't want to leave it like that," said a desperately disappointed Kewell.

"I didn't mean to get sent off.

"It wasn't a deliberate handball.

"I am devastated.

"I have had some great moments and I have had some bad moments.

"You have to take the good with the bad.

"But we've still got a chance.

"Hopefully we get a little bit of luck next time (against Serbia).

"You never know."

Kewell, overlooked for the opening match against Germany, will now have to endure the frustration of watching the final group game from the stands.

So will Moore, but he is content at least that he played his heart out against Ghana in a performance his captain Lucas Neill described as unbelievable.

"I certainly didn't leave anything out there," said Moore.

"I gave everything I had, and I'm happy with that."

Moore felt Kewell was harshly dealt with when dismissed for handball but said: "That's life.

"I'm not one for hard-luck stories.

"We certainly haven't had the rub of the green with those big calls.

"They usually even themselves out, although they certainly haven't at this point in time."

Moore believes the Australians are still a chance, despite the odds.

"Don't give up on us," he said.

"In football we see a lot of things, it's all possible.

"It would be un-Australian going into that last game giving up."

And very un-Craig Moore.

If only he and Kewell could go into it.

But all they can do is cheer.

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