Arnold publicly lambasted his players in the wake of Friday's 3-1 loss to Iraq, during which Lucas Neill was sent off earning a suspension for the must-win match against the three-time ASEAN champions.

Arnold, who earned 56 caps as a player, questioned the commitment of some of his squad but claimed this was a motivational tactic.

He said: "I said it as a challenge the players. Some players said they need to take responsibility for their own performances. I've spoken to them behind closed doors about it and the players have accepted it.

"We are in a position where we have to win the game tomorrow night. We are very capable of going a lot further in this tournament and that starts tomorrow night."

Arnold had also suggested that his players' have the edge over the Thais because of experience of high-pressure matches, an opinion that his counterpart Chanvit Polchovin did not refute.

"Part of his comment is true," conceded the former Asian Coach of the Year.

"Most of the Australian players are from the European leagues so definitely they will have a stronger mentality as they play in some of the strongest leagues in the world while many of the Thais are semi-professional and some or university students.

"As we saw in the past two Australia matches they can score with headers and like to cross the ball from wide positions so we have to prepare for aerial attacks.

"But Australia also have weaknesses as you saw against Oman and Iraq and we will try to exploit this."

Successfully exploiting these weaknesses and avoiding defeat will put the Thais through to the knockout stage for only the second time after finishing third the 1972 tournament in Bangkok.

And impressive performances in the 1-1 draw against Iraq and the 2-0 win over Oman have buoyed the Thais, who have had the pressure of the match against the Socceroos eased as they celebrated the wedding of team-mate Datsakorn Thonglao on Sunday.

"Today is a very happy day for Datsakorn as he is getting married and hopefully tomorrow will be another happy day," said Chanvit, who is unlikely to field the Vietnam-based playmaker against Australia.