To see Socceroo fans arrive at the stadium in South Africa...

 

Instead it will be attacking midfielder Richard Garcia who is tipped to play as Australia's lone striker under Verbeek's preferred 4-5-1 system in what will be just his eighth appearance for the Socceroos.

The 28-year-old, who becomes the first Western Australian to play in a World Cup finals game for Australia, plays for recently-relegated English Premier League side Hull City where he missed the end of the season after suffering a knee injury in April.

At the time it was thought that Garcia would not even return to fitness in time to be part of Australia's squad yet here he is just two months later starting up front on his own for the Socceroos.

While Verbeek's decision to leave out Kewell was expected, given the veteran striker's lack of match fitness after he only just returned to full training after being out since January with a groin injury - his decision to leave out Kennedy is a major surprise given the tall target man has scored seven goals in just 20 appearances for his country and performed well at the last World Cup in Germany.

However Kennedy has paid the price for performing below his best in Australia's two warm-up games in South Africa against the United States and Denmark.

The other surprise in the Australian starting line-up was the decision to omit the experienced Mark Bresciano on the left side of midfield.

Instead Jason Culina, who normally plays in central midfield, will play on the left with Carl Valeri taking his place in the midfield holding role alongside veteran Vince Grella.

The experienced Brett Emerton was included on the right side of midfield despite having started just two of the Socceroos' past 18 games due to firstly a long-running knee complaint and then more recently a calf strain which also prevented him from being in any of the lead-up matches. Tim Cahill will play in the centre of midfield.

However there were no surprises in the Australian defence with Mark Schwarzer named in goal while Verbeek went with his usual back four of Scott Chipperfield on the left, Craig Moore and skipper Lucas Neill in the centre of defence and Luke Wilkshire at right-back.

To see Socceroo fans arrive at the stadium in South Africa...