The jungle drums will be beating hot between Johannesburg and Nelspruit as the Socceroos fight to save their skins at the World Cup.

The Socceroos have not one but two matches to think of while they are playing Serbia, and have taken steps to ensure they receive instant updates from the equally critical Ghana-Germany fixture.

While they are playing for their survival in the eastern city of Nelspruit, gateway to the famed Kruger national park, their fate will also be decided simultaneously 300kms away in Johannesburg.

Pim Verbeek's team needs both results to fall the right way.

Australia must beat Serbia, and hope that one of two things happen at Soccer City - either Ghana wins by any margin or Germany wallops the Ghanaians.

If it's the latter, the Socceroos will need to make up a five-goal difference to overtake the Africans.

Which means the progress of the match in Johannesburg could be crucial not only to their tactics but to their spirits far away in Nelspruit.

"The players are adamant they want to know everything that's happening in Johannesburg while they are playing Serbia," an Australian team spokesman said.

"They want to be kept informed of every turn in that match, the moment it happens.

"It is very important for them, and they have been asking about it."

How that happens in practical terms will probably require one of the team's backroom staff to watch the Ghana-Germany match live on the FIFA-provided TV in their Nelspruit dressing rooms.

Every five or 10 minutes, and certainly every time a goal is scored, the staffer will phone an Australian official on the bench to give the latest result update.

Coach Verbeek or one of his assistants will then relay the news to players on the field.

World will spread throughout the team like wildfire, especially if the news is uplifting.

If the Socceroos hold the lead against Serbia, for example, and hear that the Germans are also a goal or two up, it could lift them to a superhuman effort to score more and get themselves over the line.

Equally, if they find out Ghana is set to spring a huge upset late in the game against Germany, they will know any victory over Serbia, even by a lone goal, will be good enough.

That knowledge alone could motivate them to dig deep for a barnstorming finish of the sort they turned on with 10 men in the spirited 1-1 draw against Ghana.

For Lucas Neill and his team, those updates will be the hottest news on the planet.

From their point of view, the news could make the news.

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