With regular leader Lucas Neill and his usual understudies Harry Kewell, Vince Grella and Craig Moore all missing from the mainly predominantly A-League squad, Verbeek today revealed the Gold Coast United skipper would don the captain's armband for the first time at international level.

Australia needs to draw or win against an unfancied Indonesian side that is ranked 136th in the world to seal a place in the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar and Culina honoured to take the reins for the high-stakes clash.

"It's a privilege to be captain obviously, it's an important game for us - we need to make the Asian Cup and I'm very confident that we'll get the desired result tomorrow," Culina said at the pre-match press conference.

"For me personally it will be a big evening, but it will be the same for the whole team."

Verbeek was unwilling to reveal too much about the makeup of the starting Socceroos side, saying he would tell the players in private after Australia's final training session tonight.

But the Dutchman did essentially say 18-year-old winger Tommy Oar is likely to get his first taste of international action.

Oar was selected in the Socceroos squad for the January 6 Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait, but he did not play any part but Verbeek suggested he would not be so cautious with the talented teenager this time around.

"He has his qualities and I think he can do a job tomorrow, last time I had my doubts because he was still young, and very unexperienced, and it was a big game - Kuwait away," Verbeek said.

"But he's developed in the last few months, playing every game with the Roar and training now with us - and he's training with confidence, so his situation changed.

"Last time he was not even on the bench, now I think he will be in the final selection, and tomorrow you will see if he is in the final XI."

Culina, often used in a holding midfielder capacity at international level, found himself training in more of an attacking role while the Socceroos squad prepared on the Gold Coast last week.

The 29-year-old refused to shed any light on whether he might be given a licence to roam forward on Wednesday night.

"Pim's got a team in mind, but we're not going to say too much now, we're going to talk about it tonight, so I guess you'll all see tomorrow," he said with a wry smile.

Indonesia impressed in a scoreless draw against Australia in Jakarta last year, but a string of draws and narrow one-goal defeats means they are now out of contention for next year's Asian Cup.

It is the first time in 15 years that the south-east Asian nation has failed to qualify for the tournament.

The blow has been a bitter pill for the co-hosts of the 2007 Asian Cup, but captain Bambang Pamungkas promised his side would show plenty of fight in what will be coach Benny Dollo's last game in charge.

"The result is not important anymore for our team, but the game is very important," Pamungkas said. "It's the first time since 1996 that we're not going to play in the Asian Cup, so the pressure is on the team.

"We cannot qualify ... but we'll make sure it's not going to be an easy game for Australia."

Pamungkas, who did not take part in last year's 0-0 draw between the two sides, said his teammates would be spurred on by their performance in that match.

He addedL "Honestly, we should have won the game that time, because we had so many chances and we were playing at home.

"Here it will be a lot more difficult for us, but nothing is impossible in football."