Socceroos legend John Aloisi insists Australia CAN reach the knockout rounds of the World Cup

John Aloisi believes Australia can pull off a shock once more and reach the knockout rounds of the World Cup, with the Socceroos desperate for their first tournament win in 12 years.

Graham Arnold’s side defied the odds on Tuesday morning by beating South American rivals Peru in a nail-biting shoot-out in Doha to book their place at this year’s tournament, with substitute keeper Andrew Redmayne the hero.

Australia’s victory means they will feature at their fifth-consecutive World Cup, although they have only progressed beyond the group stage on one occasion, back in 2006 when they were knocked out by Italy in the last-16. 

Beyond that remarkable tournament, the Socceroos have only won one World Cup game since 2010 and have been swiftly sent packing in 2014 and 2018.

Yet Australian soccer hero Aloisi is adamant that Arnold’s side can spring an upset and escape their group, which contains France, Denmark and Tunisia.  

‘It’s difficult and it’s a hard group to get out of, but why not?’ Aloisi told News Corp.

‘That should be the aim and that should be the focus.

‘We want to keep on improving as a nation. It’s important that we get those results because we haven’t had those wins in the past couple of World Cups.

‘We want to try to get out of our group. I can’t see why we can’t beat Tunisia, and let’s go there and see if we can cause an upset against the other two.’

Aloisi insisted that the key to success for Australia is by adopting a siege mentality. 

‘At the (2019) Asian Cup, ‘Arnie’ was saying we expected to win it, but that’s not really the Aussie way,’ Western United’s coach added.

‘The Aussie way is that we have to fight for each other. Our DNA is working for each other, believing in each other, so you can overcome anyone.

‘He brought that this time at the playoffs, where the real Aussie spirit came through, whereas a few years ago (at the Asian Cup) it wasn’t there.’