Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou has dismissed any notion of sacrificing Australia's World Cup campaign ahead of the Asian Cup next January.
Celebrating one year until Australia host the Cup for the first time, Postecoglou was adamant Australia's challenging draw in Brazil didn't mean he should throw in the towel.
"This could be my only shot at a World Cup, I'm not going to give it away for anything and I don't think we should as a nation," he said.
"If we want to do well in the Asian Cup, then we need a strong World Cup to build a foundation and give our players the right kind of experience."
Australia's preparations for Brazil received a boost this week when Mark Bresciano was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to play competitive football from March following a transfer irregularities case.
While Postecoglou welcomed the ruling, he refused to reserve a spot on the plane for the veteran midfielder in line with his "no guarantees" policy.
"From my perspective, at least I know he's available," he said.
"That's all I've asked of all the players - they're fit, they're playing well and they're available.
"No one's ruled out; no one's ruled in."
The no guarantees policy is welcome news to younger and underappreciated players who will be scouted by Postecoglou this month.
Leaving Saturday on a major scouting trip, the Socceroos' boss will start in Oman to watch Australia at the Under 22 Asian Cup, before continuing on to Britain and Europe.
Amid that trip, doubt still hovers over the playing futures of several Socceroos, including clubless captain Lucas Neill, out of favour Tom Rogic at Celtic and Melbourne Victory midfielder Mitch Nichols whose form has collapsed since speculation of a J-League move.
"There's quite a few in that boat that have got to make some really important decisions about their immediate futures," Postecoglou said.
"You can play at the highest level but, if you're not playing well, that's going to count ... if you're playing well at a lesser level, that will count as well."
He did suggest a special effort was being made to release Rogic from Celtic, pointedly saying he would "get my message across" to Celtic management.
Australia have the most daunting draw of any nation for June's World Cup, drawing 2010 finalists Spain and the Netherlands, along with local hope Chile.
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