Big match experience will tip the balance, say Australia

HANOI, July 19 (Reuters) Playing week in, week out in the pressure cooker environment of European soccer could tip the balance in Australia's favour when they face Japan in the Asian Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, the Socceroos say.

Australia got off to an awful start when they drew with Oman then lost to Iraq, but raised their game to thump Thailand 4-0 and set up a mouth-watering clash with Japan.

The Australians know they will have to play even better to get past an in-form Japanese team but expect the ''cup final'' mentality they are used to in Europe to work in their favour.

''This is do or die and that suits our character as a team,'' said midfielder Mark Bresciano, who plays for Italian Serie A club Palermo.

''As we've seen in the past, that's when we perform at our best.

We can step up on these big occasions.

''We don't die off too easily and if there's just that little possibility of winning then we're going to take it.'' Although Australia are making their first appearance at the Asian Cup, they have already developed a strong rivalry with Japan after coming from a goal down to beat them 3-1 at last year's World Cup.

DANGER MAN Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who plays in the English Premier League with Middlesbrough, said the Socceroos were only just starting to get back to the same form they showed in Germany.

''This is a big tournament, it's a major tournament and for us it's second only to the World Cup and we're treating it as serious as the World Cup,'' he said.

Despite the poor start, Australia were improving game by game, he added.

''I'd rather be getting better than getting worse and if we can get the result against Japan it's just going to kick us even further.'' While the bulk of Australia's players are based in Europe, only two members of Japan's squad play outside their homeland -- Celtic playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura and Eintracht Frankfurt striker Naohiro Takahara.

Nakamura won Scotland's player of the year award last season and Australia know the key to beating Japan is to shut him down.

''Obviously Nakamura is one of those players that can take very good free kicks and is also dangerous around the box and is a good playmaker,'' Schwarzer said.

''But we're just going to play our game as much as possible and be confident that we an get the result we need.'' REUTERS TB PM1511