While Culina is in regular contact with son Jason, he says the pair rarely discuss the national team.

But he did tell Jason that he felt Japan would be more formidable on this occasion than they were in Germany...and the Japan match will effectively be the Cup Final.

“I said to him that I think Japan is going to be tougher. I honestly think that we’ll have a real hard time getting past Japan,” he explained.

“They’re much better organised under Ivica Osim than they were under Zico; Osim is a smarter coach. He’s more experienced, cunning.

"He’ll forsake flare for results and you’ll find that Japan in this game will not be intimidated by our physical presence, which may have been the case in Kaiserslautern. The winner will go on and win the competition.”

While Branko has been busy running his Sydney FC squad through its paces – including new recruit Tony Popovic – he believes the Socceroos need to remain wary of Japan midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura if they are to have any chance of success.

“Nakamura was absolutely brilliant the way he played in the last game against Vietnam. He’s just a class act. Have we got someone like that? I’m not sure," he said.

"To me he’s as good as you’ll get in Asia. He can do it from free kicks...anywhere.

“One of the goals they scored was a sequence of six or seven passes and that’s a sign that they’re a better side than what they were at the World Cup. The question is: ‘Are we?’ And based on what we’ve seen, probably not.”

He added: “Jason and I SMS each other mostly but we don’t only talk about football though, despite what some people would think!

"There are a lot of other things to talk about - we don’t actually talk too much about football in terms of the national team. It’s more a matter of, ‘how’d you pull up? Are you okay?’ ‘Yeah, fine, good.’

“Jason pulled up okay [after facing Thailand]. They arrived late into Vietnam but I think they’re all pleased they got that result out of the way. There was a lot of pressure on them, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

Apart from Sydney FC having to negotiate Wellington Phoenix in their second Pre-Season Cup this weekend, Branko has another personal dilemma to deal with – finding a venue to watch the Socceroos.

“That’s one of my biggest problems and concerns,” he laughed. “We’ll be in New Zealand so I’ve got to find a place that will telecast the game over there so I’m not sure.

"We’ll have to find out before, if not I’ll be on the phone every few minutes to my wife and son.”

Or, of course, Branko can join us here at au.fourfourtwo.com. We will be running live minute by minute commentry on the game for those without FoxSports.