The clash with Paul Le Guen’s side in Sydney comes at a time when both Tim Cahill and Mark Schwarzer are out with injury, while Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton have been given a pass from national duties.

Despite big names featuring for the Socceroos in the three previous meetings against Oman, Neill is confident the squad has enough youthful  talent to cover.

Neill said that fresh blood will hopefully invigorate the side while taking their chance on the big stage.

“I would like to think that now with a couple of players not featuring and not here it will give this youth and exciting enthusiasm an opportunity to come through,” Neill told au.fourfourtwo.com on Thursday before leaving to play Malaysia in Canberra tonight.

“That can sometimes go both ways where they are a little bit lost for a bit till they find their feet - or they can say, ‘Okay this is my chance I’m gonna take it’."

Adam Federici appears certain to take the gloves after serving a long apprenticeship while Alex Brosque's strong form is hard to ignore. 

Robbie Kruse, James Troisi and Adam Sarota could all be in line for game time against Oman, too. 

“That will energise the team and spur the team on to a good performance,” Neill said of the new faces.

History records three wins for the green and gold in their three clashes with Oman since 2007 - but that doesn’t reveal a true picture even if the Omanis are around 80 spots behind the Socceroos in FIFA’s world rankings (Australia were 22; Oman 103 at the commencement of these qualifiers).

The first-ever clash between these two nations at senior level was at the Asian Cup 2007. At the Rajamangala stadium Bader Al Maimani’s 32nd minute goal set the cat among the pigeons.

Oman shackled Australia’s attacking threat and worked their socks off when not in possession. And they had plenty of quality going forward with Maimani, Imad Al Hosni and Imad Ali all proving dangerous.

However, a last minute Cahill effort spared the blushes of the green and gold.

The Everton man was at it again two years later at Docklands in Melbourne. In an Asian Cup 2011 qualifier, he slid in on the far post for the decisive goal of another clash that the Omanis were lucky not to get anything from.

A month later, Oman had a golden chance to break the hoodoo. With the Socceroos a man down and a goal behind after 18 minutes, Oman could and perhaps should have gone on and won.

But Schwarzer was in fine form, while Luke Wilkshire and Brett Emerton did the business at the other end to stun the home side with a gutsy 2-1 win. 

Neill wants this passion again next Tuesday with some of the newer faces for the green and gold.

“I’m hoping for that kind of start to the game from these guys who realise they’re not in the shadows anymore,” he said.

Brett Holman’s performance last month against Saudi Arabia has surely cemented his spot as Josh Kennedy’s partner-in-crime upfront.

And with maximum points from their first two games, the Australians will surely be in confident mood.

Last month, a 2-1 home win over Thailand – which Neill described as disappointing – was followed by a sensational 3-1 win in the heat of Saudi Arabia four days later.

“We executed our game plan [against Saudi Arabia] and had to do the simple things right and if we stuck to the game plan, we thought would win in those conditions," said Neill.

"And we certainly did that very well.

“We recognized it wasn’t going well and we just had to grind it out,” Neill added when quizzed on the Thai game some have described as a wake-up call.

“Sometimes you want the performance but ultimately you have to get the result.

“At this level of the game you have to analyse the game and just be that tiny bit better than your opponent.

"If you get six or seven guys playing better than the opposition, you’re probably going to dominate the game.

“And in this day and age, the teams are so close. That one percent better can be the difference.”

Aside from the Socceroos, this week Neill has been training young winners of grassroots awards run online by his sponsors, Optus.

Through the awards, the Socceroo captain was excited to have recognized leaders and coaches and to have better resources after one team was awarded a cash prize.  

“The team that won the $10,000 was from Tasmania and the young girl Gemma from the Blue Mountains won the leadership award,” explained Neill.

“It was amazing. I took them from training sessions and just had fun with them. They responded to the training. It was great fun and great reward for me to see kids turn up smiling and leave smiling.”

Optus continue to support grassroots football in particular with a program of small sided games Neill believes will benefit the nation.  

“With Optus Small Sided Games it’s been a great success. People are really buying into it because it’s keeping kids more involved in the game with more touches on the ball in a confined area,” he said.

“Smaller field means more touches and you have to have a better control of the ball.

“But the good thing is they all walk off thinking they’ve played in a game and touched the ball more times than if they were playing on a big pitch.”