Socceroos' star Harry Kewell - so often his country's saviour in difficult times - says he is finally ready to produce his best in Monday night's must-win Asian Cup clash against Thailand here.
Kewell, who missed nearly all of last season with Liverpool as a result of septic arthritis in his foot, has looked well below his best in the tournament so far.
His three recent appearances for Australia - the warm-up match against Singapore and the earlier disappointing Asian Cup games against Oman and Iraq - were his first for his country in a year since scoring the vital late equaliser against Croatia in Germany last June - which enabled the Socceroos to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time.
But with Australia needing to beat Thailand to have any chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup - following the draw with Oman and the loss to Iraq - the Socceroos badly need Kewell to come to the team's rescue yet again.
However the good news is the team's most gifted player says he is finally ready to fire, having gained much-needed match fitness over the past two games.
"I am just around the corner (from top form)," Kewell said.
"I feel good in myself, I've got no (injury) problems and no excuses."
"And I am really enjoying my football again."
Kewell admitted he was disappointed in his performance against Iraq, even though unlike most of the under-achieving teammates he does have a legitimate excuse for being below his best.
"Even if we had won 4-0 I still would have said my performance was bad," he said.
"I am very critical of myself."
Kewell said there were no excuses for the team's poor performances to date.
"I don’t think you can blame the heat, you can’t blame anything," he said.
"We have had five-star treatment since we have been here - the people have been lovely, the food has been great, the accommodation has been five-star."
"So the only people you can blame are the players."
"But you still have to be confident and we have all got to be strong enough as a unit to run over Thailand."
Despite the must-win nature of the game - even a one goal win could result in Australia being eliminated if Oman beat Iraq in the other final group game being played simultaneously - Australian coach Graham Arnold says he won't be tempted to go with an all-out attacking line-up or game plan.
"We have got to watch the other end of the field as well," he said of Australia's defence, which has struggled throughout the tournament and which will be missing the suspended Lucas Neill for the crunch game against Thailand.
"Our defence hasn't been great and we have got to make sure we shore that up and that will give us an opportunity to keep the ball and attack."
"But it's a game we have to win and we will go out there with a good positive attitude to winning the game."
"However you can't just throw all tactics out the door and go out there and hit and hope - you have got to be tactically ready to perform."