Australia set to spring World Cup surprise - Cahill

Australia midfielder Tim Cahill believes the Socceroos will be one of the surprise packages of the World Cup finals in Germany this summer.

Australia will make their first appearance in the World Cup in 32 years and Cahill said the players were determined not to waste their chance.

"This is the biggest moment we'll ever have as footballers on the world stage," Cahill told reporters in Australia via teleconference yesterday.

"This is the first chance we get to express ourselves and to show the world what we're made of, because we're definitely not going there to make up the numbers."

Cahill said his confidence had been boosted by the form of Australians playing in the English Premier League. Cahill scored for Everton against Liverpool last weekend while his Australian team-mate Harry Kewell scored one for the Reds.

"We've got a lot of players who play in the Premier League and all over the world who are firing at the minute," he said.

In addition to Kewell at Liverpool, Cahill highlighted the Australian influence of Mark Viduka and Mark Schwarzer at Middlesbrough, and Lucas Neill and Brett Emerton at Blackburn.

Australians were also featuring in Italy and Holland with Vinnie Grella and Marco Bresciano at Parma and Jason Culina and Archie Thompson at PSV Eindhoven, he added.

Germany have added a match against Luxembourg to their list of pre-World Cup friendly internationals. The hosts will break from their training camp in Switzerland for the match in Freiburg on May 27. Juergen Klinsmann's squad will have their first warm-up match in an unofficial, 60-minute practice game against amateur club Luckenwalde on May 16 in Mannheim before flying off to Sardinia for the first leg of a two-stage training camp.