"It's important. Australians have got that spirit," Waugh told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"I often use that Debbie Flintoff King example of being behind the Russian girl for 399 metres of that 400 metre hurdle race. She never gave up, kept going and going and wore her down in her last stride.

"That's what Aussies are all about – they keep going with that never-say-die spirit and togetherness."

And with the Argentina game coming up, Waugh says the U23s shouldn't be trying anything to radical, saying "playing to our strengths" is vital.

"You can't change your game to try to match someone else," he warned. "Those games against big players, those are the times to step up and the chance to do something special."

Waugh added that the "one percenters" was a good way to look at preparation for such a tournament.

"If you actually focus too much on winning you can get distracted away from what you're supposed to be doing," he said.

"I guess the important thing now is to trust yourself. And to focus on the process not the end result.

"If you get the one percenters right and the things that got you there, things will go well.

"Trusting yourself and knowing you've done the hard work is important so you can go in there and relax and enjoy yourself."

Waugh, 43, spent time with the Socceroos last year in the lead up to the Asian Cup. He has a similar mentoring and advisory role within the Australian Olympic team for the Beijing Olympics.

"I'm here to work in with the team and Arnie [Graham Arnold] and what he wants," he said.

"If they want me to watch, or if they want me to talk about certain issues or interact with the players, I'll do that as well.

"It's more about showing my face, getting to know the players and when I'm around at the Olympic Games, if they want me to have a chat, I'm there to help out.

"It's about listening rather than advising and working out what they need from me as a team," said Waugh, who played football as a junior with his brother Mark.

And the Australian cricketing legend liked what he saw at the day's training session.

"To my untrained eye, they looked pretty sharp. The fitness levels are pretty amazing these days and the intensity to me looked really good," he said.

"It's great to get down here at ground level."

Waugh played 168 tests scoring 10,927 runs. He also played in 325 ODIs with 7,569 runs to his name.

The former Australian captain retired four years ago after debuting in 1985.

In 2004, he was named Australian of the Year although that was also for his charity work. He is also an Order of Australia (AO).