AFC Asian Qualifiers - Popovic uncertain on challenge Socceroos face against unfamiliar Japan

Sydney: Australia head coach Tony Popovic admitted he is uncertain about the challenge his side will face against Japan in Perth on Thursday after opposite number Hajime Moriyasu named an unfamiliar and inexperienced squad for the AFC Asian Qualifiers™ - Road to 26 clash.

With his team's qualification for the FIFA World Cup already secured, Moriyasu has taken the opportunity to pick eight uncapped players and 12 others with fewer than 10 international appearances for the Group C encounter that Australia must win.

Japan confirmed their place at the Finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico with a 2-0 victory over Bahrain in March and are guaranteed to finish on top of the standings while the Australians are still battling with Saudi Arabia for the second automatic berth.

The Socceroos are second in the standings with two matches remaining, three points ahead of Saudi Arabia, and a win over the Japanese would all-but secure Popovic's team a place at the country's sixth consecutive FIFA World Cup Finals.

"It's not their best squad, I wonder what that will look like because when we played them in Japan they had their starting XI all playing in Europe," said Popovic.

"We can see that they have a mixture of J-League players and European based players in their squad. We haven't beaten them often and I'm sure they'll be strong regardless of who they play."

Captain Wataru Endo is one of the few regulars to have kept his place in the squad alongside Takefusa Kubo, Daichi Kamada and veteran left-back Yuto Nagatomo while Popovic will go into the game without midfielder Jackson Irvine, who is sidelined due to injury.

#AsianQualifiers - Road To 26 | Group C : Japan 1 - 1 Australia

The teams last met in October in Popovic's first game in charge after replacing Graham Arnold, sharing a 1-1 draw at Saitama Stadium.

"A win is something that we're pushing towards," said Popovic. "We feel confident we can show an improved performance from what we did in Japan, albeit that was a very good one.

"We'll have to be at our best to beat the best team in Asia. That's where we want to get to and to be the best we have to beat the best and they clearly are.

"We anticipate a big crowd and we want them to get behind the Socceroos, and that can make a big difference. We've put ourselves in a good position in the group, and beating Japan can take us another step further and we're almost there."

Popovic takes his team into the game after spending 10 days in a training camp in Abu Dhabi with the bulk of his squad, and he believes standards have improved since the previous meeting between the teams.

"That was our first window together, we played very well to get a point," he said. "Defensively the players were outstanding but going forward we need to do better to beat Japan.

"We have to improve on that but we, as a team, have improved since October and we have the opportunity now to show that. If we can manage that then I feel we have the opportunity to beat them."

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