Muscat - the Melbourne Victory captain and former Socceroo - and Kosmina - former coach of Adelaide and Sydney in the A-League who represented Australia on 60 occasions - announced on Tuesday that they will lead the official supporters touring party - the Green and Gold Army - to South Africa next year.

But the pair cautioned fans against assuming the Socceroos would repeat their heroics in Germany in 2006 when after becoming only the second Australian team to qualify for the World Cup finals and the first in 32 years, they then become the first Socceroos team to reach the knockout stages of the world's biggest sporting event before bowing out to a controversial last-minute penalty against eventual winners Italy.

Muscat said the draw of the eight groups - to be made on December 4 - would be crucial to the Socceroos' hopes of matching their performance in Germany and qualification for the knockout stages was far from guaranteed.

"At this point in time the reality is we have qualified but with the draw still to be made, a lot hinges on the draw," he said today.

"You can say every team there will be good so it shouldn't make too much of a difference but right now where we sit at the moment you would like to think we will progress to the next round.

"But in all honesty the team - the way it has been performing - has not been travelling that great so let's wait for the draw and see how we go."

While Australia have lost just four of 24 matches since Pim Verbeek took charge of the team in 2007, the Socceroos have been criticised for their defensive nature with the team overly reliant on superstar Tim Cahill to score the bulk of the team's goals, while in their most recent match they struggled to beat lowly-ranked Oman in an Asian Cup qualifier.

But on the flip side is the fact Australia have kept a clean sheet in 17 of their past 25 internationals in all competitions, which will hold the team in good stead in its bid to survive the group stage in South Africa.

Kosmina said with qualification for the World Cup now assured, he would like to see Verbeek take a more attacking approach in the warm up games before next year's tournament.

"Now is the time that you could be a bit more expansive in terms of how you play but I can understand Pim Verbeek's methods," Kosmina said.

"He set out to achieve qualification which is what they have done and how we go about things, well when we get there you could change things depending on who we come up against.

"If you come up against Brazil and Italy, you would play the same way as now but if we get drawn against some of the lesser nations we might be a bit more expansive in terms of how we get forward."

Kosmina also added that Australia's official FIFA ranking, which recently got to a record high of 14 but had now slipped back to 24, was more realistic of where the Socceroos stood in the world pecking order.

As for the alleged safety and security issues for fans planning to travel to South Africa,
Kosmina dismissed such concerns particularly for those travelling with the Green and Gold Army which will be based in a four and a half star hotel in an exclusive inner suburb of Johannesburg.

"I don't think FIFA would put on an event and choose South Africa in the first place if they didn't think it could be made secure enough and South Africa as a country won't want anything to go wrong," he said.

Muscat said he was 'more than comfortable' with the security situation for Australian fans planning to travel to South Africa.

He added: "We are going to be based in Johannesburg where the Socceroos are based and all indications we have been given is not only will it be safe but very enjoyable for everyone."