The Socceroos' search for a new coach is set to heat up as teams begin exiting the World Cup, freeing up more potential replacements for Pim Verbeek.

Football Federation Australia hope to have their man locked in before the first post-World Cup friendly in August.

They have lined up an away match against Slovenia, and hope to have the new head coach take charge of the Socceroos - alongside new assistant Aurelio Vidmar - for that game.

Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy has indicated the new coach is "most likely" to come from one of the 31 other coaches involved at the World Cup in South Africa.

While the tournament is the world's biggest coaching shop window, the problem has been that coaches don't become officially available, nor do many want to talk about post-World Cup jobs, while they are still taking care of business in the tournament.

The coach most heavily linked with Australia is Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen - whose team are already out of World Cup contention.

The most high-profile coach with his team hovering around the exit door is Sven Goran Eriksson, whose Ivory Coast team are in danger of joining the African exodus from the tournament later this week.

Others who have indicated their interest in the job are former star players Osvaldo Ardiles, Ruud Gullit and Dutchman Phillip Cocu.

Current Dutch assistant coach Ronald de Boer is another who has been linked with the role.

Frenchman Le Guen, who would break the Dutch stranglehold on the Australian game, shapes as a big risk should he be given the job - boasting a mixed track record.

His Cameroon team were the first team out of the running at the World Cup, delivering arguably the tournament's most benign performance in a 1-0 loss to Japan, then losing to Denmark 2-1 to bow out prior to their third match.

A former French international as a player, Le Guen coached Lyon to three successive league titles in France.

But he failed at Scottish club Glasgow Rangers and had mixed results at Paris St Germain.

At the French club, he benched underperforming veterans and installed a 17-year-old, Mamadou Sakho, as captain on his senior league debut in an attempt to kick-start things after a bad run of losses.

French journalists say Le Guen faced a player revolt at this World Cup - bowing to pressure from Cameroon's senior stars to change the team from the one beaten by Japan for their clash with Denmark.

They also lost that game.

Eriksson has also worked at high-profile club and national team jobs, and his short-term position at Ivory Coast looks certain to end after the tournament.

Verbeek believes whoever takes over Australia will inherit plenty to work with despite the expected raft of post-World Cup retirements.

The Dutchman points to players like Carl Valeri, 25, and 26-year-old Brett Holman who have made good impressions at this World Cup, as ones for the future.

"There's an interesting generation coming up also," he said.

"You see the younger players how they've done, how they perform, and I can bring them in the team if necessary.

"Now we have quite a big selection, a good selection also. That's a difference from two and a half years ago."

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