Thanks to a thrilling penalty shootout victory against Peru, Australia is now preparing for its sixth World Cup. After losing to Japan and Saudi Arabia in the qualifying round, Australia has had to play two playoffs. However, they held their nerves on both occasions and got the best out of both games.

An 84th-minute winner over the United Arab Emirates in the Asian playoff saw them reach the intercontinental playoff against Peru where they won via a shootout to reach the finals.

The Socceroos' greatest result in the competition was reaching the round of 16 in Germany in 2006, but since then they have failed to pick up a victory in any of the following two tournaments. They are placed in a challenging group this time around as well, with the defending world champions France, Tunisia and an in-form Denmark in Group D. They however will think about doing an unthinkable and will be trying to perform better this time around.

Graham Arnold, the head coach, has a good pool of talent to draw from and has the greatest victory rate (75%) of any permanent Australian manager. But despite all such, to maintain that remarkable record, he will need to do something extraordinary.

Group fixtures (all times IST)

Wednesday 23 November: France vs Australia – 00:30

Saturday 26 November: Tunisia vs Australia – 15:30

Wednesday 30 November: Australia vs Denmark – 20:30


Full Squad:

Goalkeepers: Mathew Ryan (FC Copenhagen), Danny Vukovic (Central Coast Mariners), Andrew Redmayne (Sydney FC)

Defenders: Harry Souttar (Stoke City), Milos Degenek (Columbus Crew), Bailey Wright (Sunderland), Thomas Deng (Albirex Niigata), Fran Karacic (Brescia), Nathaniel Atkinson (Heart of Midlothian), Aziz Behich (Dundee United), Kye Rowles (Heart of Midlothian), Joel King (Odense Boldklub)

Midfielders: Aaron Mooy (Celtic), Jackson Irvine (FC St. Pauli), Ajdin Hrustic (Hellas Verona), Cameron Devlin (Heart of Midlothian), Riley McGree (Middlesbrough), Keanu Baccus (St Mirren)

Forwards: Jamie Maclaren (Melbourne City), Mitchell Duke (Fagiano Okayama), Jason Cummings (Central Coast Mariners), Garang Kuol (Central Coast Mariners), Awer Mabil (Cadiz), Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City), Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United), Martin Boyle (Hibernian)


Potential Playing XI:

Mathew Ryan, a former goalkeeper for Brighton and Arsenal, will be crucial in goal, with Celtic midfielder Aaron Mooy and in-form Mathew Leckie posing the major threats higher up the field alongside some new faces like wingers Martin Boyle and Awer Mabil. They are essential to Australia's prospects of getting anything out of the group stage.

Australia XI (4-1-4-1): Mathew Ryan; Aziz Behich, Kye Rowles, Bailey Wright, Fran Karacic; Aaron Mooy; Awer Mabil, Jackson Irvine, Riley McGree, Martin Boyle; Mathew Leckie