Which Australian players does he expect to shine? “Garang Kuol is definitely exciting”, says Aloisi. Kuol arrived in Australia at the age of 6, his family refugees from South Sudan. Now 18, he grew up in regional Victoria and after a dazzling debut in the A-League for Central Coast Mariners has signed to join one of the richest clubs in the world, England’s Newcastle United, in January.

“He might be one of the only players selected at the World Cup who hasn’t started a competitive game for his club,” says Aloisi. “That’s odd, but he’s such a talent. I saw first-hand what he was able to do this season. He came on against us (for the Mariners) at half-time and completely changed the game. He’s one of these players who’s fearless. He plays like he’s playing in the park with his mates. He just runs at you, he doesn’t care who he’s up against, we saw that when he played for the A-League All Stars earlier this year against Barcelona. It will be fascinating to see what role he plays in the World Cup.”

Ajdin Hrustic, who plays for Verona in Serie A, and former English Premier League ace Aaron Mooy are more established Socceroos who Aloisi thinks could have a major impact.

As for opposing nations, who does he like the look of? “I could probably rattle off eight nations that could win it,” he says. “You can’t go past Brazil with the squad they’ve got, and in the form they’ve been in. They’re an incredible side. I see Spain being one of the teams that can go very deep into the tournament. I hope Argentina and Portugal go well for the Messi and Ronaldo factor - two great players.”

This year’s World Cup presents many unusual challenges for the players. Having controversially selected Qatar as the host nation, FIFA decided to move the tournament from its customary mid-year slot to November-December when the weather in the Gulf nation was more suitable. That has meant interrupting domestic leagues mid-season across the world, including the A-League, to squeeze the tournament in.

“Players basically have about one week from leaving their club to playing World Cup matches, so the coach doesn’t have the usual time to prepare the team,” Aloisi says. “That’s something the players will have to work their way through.”

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There is some upside to Australia’s drawn-out path to the finals, via play-offs, which were staged in Qatar. “The likes of France and Denmark, who on paper are much stronger than us, they haven’t got time to prepare,” Aloisi says. “They’ve virtually got five days together. They’ve never been to Qatar before as a national team, they haven’t played in the stadiums, they don’t know the hotels. They don’t know the environment they’re going into, whereas the Socceroos know it very well. They’ve been there a number of times and just recently they’ve played their last two qualifiers there so I can see it as an advantage.”

And you can hear the enthusiasm in his voice when asking Aloisi what he would say to the Socceroos players before they run onto the pitch in Qatar for their first match this week against the reigning champs.

“I really believe we’ll give France a tough game. The French usually build slowly into a tournament. I can’t see why we can’t cause them problems. So the message would be let’s go out there and make history, let’s go out there and beat the World Cup holders. It’s been done before in past World Cups, the holders end up losing to a lesser- ranked nation. So that would be the message, let’s go and make history. Let’s hope we can do that. Wouldn’t that be amazing!”

The FIFA World Cup begins on SBS on Monday and runs until December 18.

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