All down to one....

....week to go. Noooooooooooooo! On the day that marks 1 week until departure, the Socceroos will test their metal against Denmark. It appears that Verbeek has named a side that appears close to what may be the starting 11 against Germany in Durban.

Mark Schwarzer, Luke Wilkshire, Craig Moore, Lucas Neill, Scott Chipperfield, Vince Grella, Jason Culina, Richard Garcia, Tim Cahill, Mark Bresciano, Josh Kennedy

One would assume that providing he is fit, Brett Emerton may take the place of Garcia on the right hand side of midfield. It has also been well publicised that Harry Kewell may well be utilised in the lone strikers role in place of Josh Kennedy (aka god). All is yet to be revealed, but in the meantime, in only a short few hours after the game tonight, each country is required to submit their final 23 man squads to participate in the Finals stage.

It is evident at this point, (other than a huge change of tact), that Eugene Galekovic, Tommy Oar and James Holland will be omitted from the squad. There has been much debate and personal preference over the those who should and those who shouldn't and of course all of us are the experts. For me, I find it worrying that Dario Vidosic may be left to ponder what might have been. From a very simplistic view point, he is the only "striker" apart from Kennedy to have scored for Australia in some time. You could also argue that he is not seen as a striker, but his absolute versatility is the key. I personally would also like to see Tommy Oar available for a role in the games. Without trying to draw comparison, Kewell was good at such a young age as he was given the flexibility to express himself with flair. Young Tommy I also believe is strong enough to do so late in games when the wind is out of the sail, despite his relative lack of exposure to a higher level of quality opposition. All this said, I am sure there will be very valid reasons for the omissions by the coaching staff. If I were to take a guess, those to miss out unfortunately will be: Galekovic, Lowry, Oar, Carney and Jedinak.

Whilst the fitness taper for the Socceroos will indicate a lack of endurance over the closing stages of tonight's game, I am confident that the supporters as a whole are expecting and almost demanding an improvement in the tactical play from our national team. Yes they are trials, no they don't win you the world cup, but I am sure that the team themselves will be striving for individual team goals and benchmarks throughout the game.

Make sure you tune in to Fox Sports tonight at 10 pm for the live coverage...there is one thing for sure, I certainly will be!

7 days, 1 hour and 55 mins.....