The Socceroos' upcoming World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan in Tashkent may loom as somewhat of a journey into the unknown for the Australian side but coach Pim Verbeek is intent on demystifying the trip to central Asia.
Verbeek, who has coached in Tashkent before when his South Korean side played there, said it was important that the Socceroos were not intimidated by going to a country which most would struggle to pick out on a map and is not a regular destination for anyone bar expat Uzbeks.
"I've been there before, with South Korea. I know what we can expect. I've seen four or five DVDs of Uzbekistan. For me it's not a big surprise anymore. For the players, probably yes. But we have time to prepare them for the game," he said.
"I think everybody understands it will be a tough game. We have a good preparation waiting, we'll be ready for sure."
As well as viewing DVDs, Verbeek has been using a scout to keep track of Uzbekistan's preparations for its opening qualification match against Qatar and the match against Australia.
"They are playing three games in the coming weeks. We have our scout over there and he will follow-up the team very well and he will join us in camp to give us the information on them. We have all the information from the last games they played and we have information on these games, so we will have everything maximum prepared."
"They play a Russian style. They have a European style of playing, physically strong, tough team. They are skilful, well-organised, backed up by fantastical fans. It will be a hectic evening, but our boys are ready," he said.
While he is confident in his team's preparation, Verbeek has indentified Uzbekistan as the 'Dark Horse' in a group which also contains Japan, Qatar and Bahrain.
"Everybody is focussing on Japan, because Japan is the major country in Asian football. I know Uzbekistan well from the Asian Games in December in 2006 and we know them from the Asian Cup in 2007. They are the first team from the first round of qualification to make it through. There is no reason to underestimate this opponent. This is a big game. It can help our qualification a lot if we have a win," he said.
Verbeek said the big advantage Australia has is not playing on Match Day 1, which falls on the Saturday before the Tashkent fixture. While the Uzbeks will be in Doha playing Qatar, Australia will be in the Netherlands playing a friendly at Eindhoven.
"It's a good preparation for us, because they get to play against one of the best teams in Europe. We play on a fantastic surface, we have very good training facilities. My opinion is that this is the best preparation we can have, but we will know that after the result of the Uzbekistan match," he said.
One aspect which Verbeek is confident his players won't struggle with is the conditions, with the match played in the evening a temperatures of around 17 degrees Celsius.
"They now know what to expect, because it can never be worse than what it was in Dubai and Qatar last June. The players will go there and adapt quite soon. I'm not worried at all any more about that kind of situation. They will be ready," he said.