Neill won’t underestimate Oman

Oman may be playing up their underdog tag, but neither Lucas Neill nor Holger Osieck are having any of it.

Qantas Socceroo captain Lucas Neill has credited Australia-s preparation for tomorrow-s clash against Oman at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.

At the pre-match press conference, the 34-year-old defender bristled at suggestions from local media that Australia were overwhelming favourites for the crucial FIFA World Cup qualifier.

At said conference, the Omani section was keen to remind Neill of the part-time nature of a portion of Oman-s line up, but the Qantas Socceroo skipper didn-t sway his focus from Friday-s challenge.

Furthermore, Neill explained that the well-documented weather conditions that will greet both teams at kick off wouldn't be a key factor.

“The weather is the same for both teams,” said Neill.

“If anything, Oman should be more prepared (for the weather conditions) having lived in this climate.

“But, we-ve been here long enough that we feel we-re used to it now and we don-t feel as though it-s going to be a deciding factor in the game.”

Throughout their weeklong stay in the Omani capital, the Qantas Socceroos have maximised the time in the confines of their team hotel to trowel over video footage of the Omani side from their previous encounters against Australia.

Rather than dwell on Saturday-s friendly loss away to Denmark, Neill says his teammates have focused their energies on making the most of the challenging circumstances tomorrow evening.

“We-ve worked on the entirety of our performance,” said Neill.

“We-ve analysed the video (against Denmark), we-ve looked but we-ve not so much got caught up on the Denmark situation, we-ve looked at Oman from the past.

“We-ve used the time now to acclimatise and to get into a good condition.”

Though weather conditions should see the match played at a slow pace, Neill and the Qantas Socceroos are well prepared for whatever may eventuate.

“You can-t predict how the game is going to go, because we don-t know how the oppositions pace is going to be,” said Neill.

“We-re going to try and play the game as efficiently and as economically as we can but the game situation might require us to do more than we might want to do.

“But as always we will try and give 100%, it-s impossible to predict the factors.

“It-s great if we can say we want to play the game at walking pace but realistically that will not happen, so we have to just take it as it comes, manage our intake of fluid, make sure we-re well prepared and whatever comes, comes.”

The Qantas Socceroos begin their final phase of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with a clash against Oman in Muscat on Friday, 8 June. Kick off is at 5pm local time. (Kick off is at 11pm AEST).

Fox Sports will show the Jordan v Japan game before the match as a lead in from 8:20pm.

Soon after, the Qantas Socceroos will host Japan in their first home fixture of the fourth stage of Asia-s FIFA World Cup qualification process on Tuesday, 12 June at Brisbane-s Suncorp Stadium. Kick off is at 8pm.

Tickets are still available, click here or call 132 849.