Kuwait set to surprise

Unpredictability could be Kuwait's greatest threat in Thursday's Asian Cup qualifier against Australia in Canberra, with Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek admitting that the appointment of new coach Goran Tufedgic makes it a tough opponent to judge.

Unpredictability could be Kuwait's greatest threat in Thursday's Asian Cup qualifier against Australia in Canberra, with Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek admitting that the appointment of new coach Goran Tufedgic makes it a tough opponent to judge.

Tufedgic has had just over a month to get his team back together after his predecessor walked away in the wake of a 1-0 loss to Oman in its opening qualifier. Having not seen any of the Kuwait side under the Serbian's new leadership, Verbeek is a little unsure how the visiting team will play.

"We have an idea. But with country's like that who change coaches after the game they lost against Oman, you never know exactly what they are going to do," he said.

"We will show them some images of the games we have seen from Kuwait. Because that's part of the job."

But Verbeek is not too concerned by the unknown qualities of his opposition, saying he has the confidence in his side to get all three points in Thursday's match.

"We play a home game, we play a home advantage. We were looking more for our own players, our own quality," he said.

He knows the main threats of the Kuwaiti side very well and believes they are unlucky not to be already on the board in qualifying.

"They are typical Middle Eastern football players, very skilful individual strong players. Tough defending, they are not afraid to play tough football defensively," he said.

"They can play very organised. They lost 1-0 to Oman.....and they didn't deserve to lose that game. If you see Oman as the Gulf champion, that says enough that Kuwait is not an easy team to play against."

But one thing which is not on Verbeek's mind is the fact that Kuwait beat Australia 2-0 the last time the teams played in 2006.

"I never look back. Because probably there were different players in that team. I didn't even know that they played against each other in 2006. I'm not worried about that. I'm looking at the players I have at the moment," he said.