Australia and Japan play each other at the Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern in the first match of Group F, with a potentially explosive encounter on the cards following comments from both camps in the build-up to the game.

Australia coach Guus Hiddink reacted angrily to comments from the head of Japan's Football Association that his team are "guilty of a lot of dirty fouls".

Hiddink countered, claiming such allegations were designed to influence officials before kick-off. "I'm getting very angry when people suggest that. We have a good team. They like to fight. Every team must fight in my opinion," he said. "I think that's not fair. You should play fair at the beginning."

Australia completed their pre-tournament preparations with an anything but friendly warm-up match against Holland, which saw Luke Wilkshire sent off and several Dutch players injured during a fractious encounter.

However, Australia’s captain Mark Viduka wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about. "We as Australians - and our team in particular - play fair every time we go out," he said. "We're very competitive people. We like to win and we will never pull out of a tackle. But it doesn't mean that we go out to hurt people. I think it's a lot of hype made up so people can write articles."

Viduka should be fit to start for Australia despite a calf injury. Everton’s Tim Cahill is also expected to start, although having only just returned from a knee injury. Liverpool’s Harry Kewell is still not 100 percent and will be on the bench, but neither he nor Cahill will be available for the full 90 minutes.

Japan’s coach, Brazillian legend Zico believes his team can overcome Australia as long as they match their opponents physically. He expects them to enter the game full of confidence following their recent 2-2 draw with hosts Germany during the preparation matches.

"We were right in feeling on top of the world after the German match, but we must not get carried away," he said. "Our defenders won't grow overnight so we've worked on getting marking right. But I am convinced that we can play our style of football and produce a good result. It will push us forward."

Zico named Liverpool midfielder Harry Kewell as the man they would have to watch. "He can change the match with just one play, or score a goal as soon as he comes onto the pitch," he said. "But we have managed to mark and stop special players,"

In a tough group, expected to be dominated by World champions Brazil, Japan midfielder, Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura fears the Socceroos ahead of Croatia. "I think it will be easier for us to cope against Croatia, who play two up front and sit back a little bit,” he said. "Australia are similar to us in style which makes them difficult to play."

Nakamura has been passed fit while strikers Naohiro Takahara and Atsushi Yanagisawa should also start after recovering from slight knocks. But winger Akira Kaji is out with an ankle injury he picked up in the 2-2 draw with Germany.

Australia (probable): Schwarzer, Emerton, Neil, Moore, Chipperfield, Grella, Culina, Cahill, Bresciano, Aloisi, Viduka

Japan (probable): Kawaguchi, Miyamoto, Nakazawa, Tsuboi, Komano, Nakata, Fukunishi, Nakamura, Alex, Takahara, Yanagisawa

Referee: (ABD EL FATAH Essam)

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