The 23-year old is loving his football and believes the J.League is the best tier in Asia. He played 90 minutes on Saturday night and is feeling rejuvenated for this Thursday's clash against the Blue Samurai.

But in the lead-up to the clash in Saitama, Degenek said Yokohama's supporters and “a lot” of his teammates wanted the Socceroos to prevail.

Japan currently tops the group on 17 points while Saudi Arabia are equal 16 points with Australia at second, ahead on goal difference.

“There are mixed emotions in my team, my club and what I’ve heard, it’s kind of silly to say but they kind of want us to win,” Degenek said this morning.

“They’ve got different reasons which I won’t mention, but they don’t all agree with the Japanese system and the coaching staff in Japan.

“They’re putting a lot of pressure on themselves as well, they’re going to be excited for the game.

“I think if Japan win, they qualify, I think that’s pressure on them to win at home, not to go to Saudi Arabia and do the business there, they want to do it here.

“The pressure is there and they haven’t had the best of qualifying, the round hasn’t been that good them. From what I’ve heard the pressure is on them and they’re not the best with dealing with pressure, so we’ll see what happens.”

Degenek said he was slowly learning Japanese but joked of his translator losing his job if he mastered the language.

The Yokohama defender was anticipating a rowdy atmosphere in Saitama but will not be intimidated by the reception.

He said local media had been constantly asking him about the tactics of Australia and lamented the mentality that the Socceroos still play a long ball style of football.

“After every game, it’s how’s Japan going to deal with the physicality, how Australia play long balls, how we just win headers, play for set pieces and I don’t agree with that,” he said.

“I think that’s the picture of Australian football they have, a few years ago when things were different, when Josh Kennedy was still playing.

“A lot of us are over 1.8m and they think we’re big boys who are going to do that. I think that’s wrong but that’s their opinion, I don’t have a big influence on the media here.

“I think it’s a completely different type of football we play now and they have that image of Australians being a lot bigger, physical, heavier and harder and that’s what they’re most scared of.”

The game is set to start at 8.35pm (AEST).