The Asian Cup has already thrown up a few surprises and the Socceroos are out to make sure there won't be another when they face India in their opening match on Tuesday morning (AEDT).
The tournament has always proved a hotbed for upsets, a trend that continued on Sunday night with favourites Japan held to a 1-1 draw with Jordan and Syria defeating Saudi Arabia 2-1 to blow Group B wide open.
Australia are even heavier favourites against 142nd-ranked India in the opening match of Group C but have insisted all week they won't be taking the challenge lightly at Al Sadd Stadium.
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The Socceroos were hot favourites in their opening match against Oman at the 2007 Asian Cup but had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
"The previous tournament was disappointing for us. The negativity and the experience from that we've turned to a positive and used it to our advantage now," captain Lucas Neill said at the official pre-match press conference in Doha.
"Our preparation has been extremely good and thorough, our mindset is to take it game by game.
"Every team goes into the tournament wanting to win it and in the back of our mind we still are in this tournament to try to win it but the first game is India and that's all we'll concentrate on."
Holger Osieck put his side through its final training run in Doha on Sunday night and is expected to unleash his strongest possible starting side in the match.
That signals the return of big guns Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, Mark Schwarzer, Brett Emerton and Jason Culina, who were all rested in last week's friendly draw with the UAE.
India's preparation has been hit hard by injury woes, with inspirational striker and captain Bhaichung Bhutia the latest to be ruled out of the tournament last week.
Those problems were exacerbated with the announcement on Sunday that striker Sushil Kumar Singh has been suspended for two matches by the AFC Disciplinary Committee for elbowing an opponent during a 2010 AFC Challenge Cup match against North Korea.
"That is a blow to us. We've lost one front player very late to suspension. That has left us with a little bit of a problem," coach Bob Houghton said.
