The Socceroos take on Czechia (formerly known as the Czech Republic) in caretaker Bert van Marwijk's third game as Australia coach – and Zelic wants to see him step it up a gear.

She fears he will fall into the trap of playing a defensive game instead of taking the match to the opposition – but hopes to be proved wrong tonight.

It's van Marwijk's second last chance to give his squad a runout before the Socceroos' World Cup campaign kicks off against France on June 16.

"We've all been having those conversations about what kind of football he's going to play," Zelic told 442FM. "Based on the last two friendly matches that we've seen, a lot people – the majority, I would have to say – haven't been all that thrilled.

"Because it is a very big departure from the football that we saw played under Ange Postecoglou.

"Whether you are a fan of the back three or not, I think we can all agree we like to see Australia have a go. That's part of our DNA and we've seen from World Cup experiences gone-by that when we have actually had a crack, and played a more proactive style, that it has put those bigger nations under pressure.

"That's what we want to see. It's not sexy football [at the moment] – that's the problem!"

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Lucy – who flies out to Moscow next week as part of the SBS team for her first World Cup – added: "This opens up an entire Pandora's box of other conversations about where we're at as a footballing nation, and what our footballing identity is.

"I think that's the thing that has become quite lost in all of this. We've brought in Bert on a short term basis with the understanding that we are gearing towards the future when Graham Arnold then gets into the role officially.

"But who do we want to be at this World Cup? What do we want to achieve? Is it down to footballing style? Is it down to results? What do we want? Can we go with both?

"I don't think we're going to get both with Bert so we have to settle with, okay, we're going there for results.

"If Bert truly believes that the only way to do that is by playing pragmatic football then we don't have a say... but we would like to see them have a go.That, I think, we can all agree on..."