Beat Cameroon on Thursday evening in Saint Petersburg (1am Friday AEST), and the Socceroos will take a major step towards to the semi-finals.

Draw with the African champions, and Australia’s tournaments hopes will remain alive by a thread. Lose, and Ange Postecoglou’s players might as well head home early.

Here are five things to watch.

Will Ange mix things up?

Expect changes.

That was the message from Postecoglou’s pre-match press conference on Wednesday, where he suggested that the short turn-around time would necessitate a tweaked line-up.

“Given the nature of the tournament with the games so close together, it does not make sense to keep going in with the same 11,” Postecoglou said.

Massimo Luongo is under pressure

“That is not going to work, so we will make at least a couple of changes for tomorrow. But who they are and where they are going to be will just depend on how the players look at training today.”

After his horror showing against Germany, QPR’s Massimo Luongo might find himself replaced by Jackson Irvine or James Jeggo.

A defensive reshuffle could also be on the cards, with the McGowan brothers jostling alongside Alex Gersbach for a spot in the back three.